MLB to Implement Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System in 2026 Season

Today, Major League Baseball announced that it will adopt the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system for the 2026 season, allowing hitters and pitchers to challenge ball and strike calls made by the home plate umpire. The system was chosen as a compromise between the human errors of umpires and a fully automated ball and strike calling system.

The ABS system, sponsored by T-Mobile, is a Hawk-Eye system that utilizes an array of cameras operating on a private 5G network to determine the location and trajectory of pitches relative to a batter’s strike zone. The batter, pitcher, or catcher can request a challenge after any pitch immediately after the umpire’s call by tapping his cap or helmet. The pitch and Hawk-Eye determined call will then be displayed for the audience via the stadium’s video board and on broadcasts.

Each team will receive two challenges at the start of a game. Challenges are only exhausted upon an unsuccessful challenge, and teams will receive one challenge per extra inning (10th inning and on) should they have no challenges left at the start of that inning.

The ABS system has been in use in the minor leagues since 2022 and was used in 288 Spring Training games this year, during which players challenged an average of 4.4 times per game. The majority of fans surveyed by MLB during Spring Training approved of the system, with 72% saying it had a positive impact on their experience and 69% affirming they would like the sport to adopt it officially.