SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Major League Baseball is changing \u2026 again.<\/p>\n
Amid an era that has already seen significant alterations to the sport, most of which have been received favorably by fans and players alike, MLB will introduce perhaps its most dramatic change yet in 2026: the ability to challenge ball and strike calls.<\/p>\n
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For the past four seasons, MLB has invested heavily in testing the use of Automated Ball Strike (ABS) technology, predominantly at the Triple-A level but also during 2025 major-league spring training and the 2025 All-Star Game. At the minor-league level, early experimentation included the use of ABS to call all balls and strikes based on a designated virtual strike zone \u2014 crafted in space using 12 Hawk-Eye cameras placed around the perimeter of the field and tracking the pitch\u2019s location, with the top and bottom boundaries of the zone determined by the batter\u2019s height \u2014 with calls communicated to the home plate umpire via earpiece. But feedback on such a comprehensive system was less than positive among fans and players.<\/p>\n
Instead, there was quickly a consensus among all parties that ABS would be better deployed in a limited capacity. Rather than completely eliminating the home plate umpire\u2019s perspective, ABS \u2014 which offers a more black-and-white interpretation of the strike zone than a human ever could \u2014 could act as more of a support system than an overarching rule of law. Indeed, starting this season, no longer will MLB players have to begrudgingly accept a home plate umpire\u2019s ruling no matter what; modern technology has provided the chance for recourse.<\/p>\n
In September, the Joint Competition Committee \u2014 a group of six owners, four active players and one active umpire \u2014 voted to introduce the ABS challenge system<\/a> for the 2026 season. On Thursday, at the conclusion of the annual Cactus League media day, former big-league pitcher<\/a> and current vice president of on-field strategy for MLB Joe Martinez gave a presentation on how the ABS challenge system will function in 2026. It was similar to the one MLB gave a year ago<\/a> ahead of its first round of testing in big-league spring training games, but this time, the stakes are considerably higher. This is no longer some early-stage experiment. This system is coming on Opening Day.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Welcome to a world in which players can argue balls and strikes \u2014 at least some of the time. In reintroducing the concept of the ABS challenge system, MLB stated its objective early and emphatically: \u201cTo provide players with an opportunity to correct missed calls in high-leverage moments in a manner that fans like.\u201d<\/p>\n Here are the basics of how the ABS challenge system will work:<\/p>\n Each team will have two challenges to begin each game, and all successful challenges will be retained.<\/p>\n Only the batter, catcher and pitcher are allowed to challenge a ball or strike call; protests from the bench or elsewhere on the field are prohibited, and umpires have the ability to deny a challenge if they believe it was aided or influenced by anyone else on field or in the dugout.<\/p>\n To challenge a call, the pitcher, catcher or batter must tap his head immediately (in less than two seconds, roughly) to initiate a review. At that point, the umpire will announce the call is being challenged, and a graphic showing the ball\u2019s location as determined by ABS will be displayed on the scoreboard and broadcast. The result of the challenge will be announced, and play continues. (In the past, even before ABS was a factor, there have sometimes been minor discrepancies between the strike zone displayed on the broadcast, the one embedded in MLB\u2019s Gameday app<\/a> and the one appearing on Baseball Savant\u2019s Gamefeeds<\/a>. MLB is working to ensure that all available forms of the strike zone are reflective of the zone being used by the ABS challenge system.)<\/p>\n