Robot umpires are officially knocking on MLB’s door.
Commissioner Rob Manfred told The Athletic’s Evan Drellich on Wednesday that the league will test an automated ball-strike challenge system in spring training in 2025, with hopes the system can be implemented in the 2026 regular season. .
The system will reportedly give teams two challenges per game, retaining them when they are correct. Reportedly, not all spring training stadiums will have ABS cameras, but all teams will have the opportunity to play with them.
From Atlético:
“I think we will have a spring training ABS test that will provide a significant opportunity for all major league players to see what the challenge system will be like,” Manfred said. “From my perspective, that test has two sides: what the clubs think about it and, also, what do the players think about it? And we are going to have to analyze both.”
MLB has experimented with ABS systems in the minor leagues since 2019, in two formats. Some games have used automated umpires to call each pitch, while others have used the challenge system heading into spring training.
The challenge system was used full-time in Triple-A, and you can see it used to end a game here:
At one point last year, MLB said teams had a 47% success rate with challenges.
Robot umpires once felt like a game-changer for MLB, but they have become inevitable because of the way MLB has approached them. Because they have been in the minor leagues for years, a large portion of current major league players already have experience with the system.
It’s been a very slow transition for the league, but it appears to be almost over. There will almost certainly be complaints with the system (not every pitch that is technically a strike looks like a strike, and the same goes for balls), but many fans will accept a human element that can sometimes be infuriating.