Sizing Up The Next Version Of The ABS System Coming To A Ballpark Near You

Without much doubt, the brains and lawyers and analysts of Major League Baseball are working on the next version of the ABS (Automated Ball-Strike) System right now. In fact, my guess is that the new version and subsequent rules of the new version are being finalized in board rooms, Zoom calls, and discussion review panels behind closed doors of Major League Baseball offices. The rollout, TBD, but likely occurring within a few seasons at most. Why? Because the modern day baseball fan will demand that Major League Baseball set the bar even higher for the ABS System than its current infant form. Why? Because the current form of the ABS System is flawed and the modern fan will demand that it get fixed to their liking.

Let’s chat for a moment on this infant form. As of this 2026 MLB season, two ABS System challenges are allowed for each team starting with the first pitch of the game and ending one of two ways. The ninth inning (teams get another challenge in extra innings) or a team is incorrect on two challenges. Note, if a player challenges a call via ABS and is successful, the team retains their challenge. So, if Roman Anthony, who leads off for my Boston Red Sox, challenges the first two pitches he sees in a game, and loses both challenges, the Red Sox cannot challenge another call for the rest of the game, unless it goes to extra innings. So, what is your team strategy? Does your team only challenge balls and strikes in later innings? What about players, do teams only allow certain players to challenge, say the top four in the lineup? What about pitchers and catchers, who will challenge the pitch? And do you leave the challenge for a pivotal game situation, like a bases loaded at bat? The strategy on how to handle two challenges per game is a unique one to each MLB team, manager, and operations.

But here is what happens in the modern game, 2026, when a team loses their ABS challenges early in the game. Players, coaches, managers, modern fans in the stands, modern fans watching at home, modern fans watching at the bars have to watch the remainder of the game as it was originally umpired – by a human being who is far from perfect. Here is a true baseball fan talking now. Check out umpire scorecards online sometimes. Most are at over 90% accuracy on their balls and strikes calls. That is absolutely incredible that a human can watch a 90 plus MPH slider travel 60 feet, 6 inches and cross a square strike zone area and you can process all that in real time and make a correct judgement call. I am not a modern baseball fan, I am a true baseball fan. And modern baseball fans are not happy with less than 100% of the calls being accurate. That is why we have the ABS System – to please the modern fan. So, why will a new version be rolled out sooner than later? To appease the modern, gambling crazy, betting on every pitch, baseball fan. And here is what I fear it will look like in some combination of the following:

• The ABS System will allow for 1 challenge every three innings, upping the current number of challenges from 2 to 3 for each team. However, you are only allowed 1 challenge in that 3 inning span. Should you get the challenge correct, your team would retain that challenge. Or,
• Each side of the baseball – pitching, hitting – will get 2 challenges per inning. So, when your team is in the field, your defensive team has 2 ABS Challenges per inning. When your team comes to bat, your batters will have 2 ABS Challenges per inning. The total game challenges could potentially reach 18 per at bats and 18 on the defensive side, or substantially higher if a player wins a challenge. Can we say 100 challenges per game is out of reach? Nope. Or, worst cast scenario,
• The ABS System completely replaces any human intervention by the home plate umpire and becomes the standard for calling balls and strikes. Home plate umpires stand behind home plate and call anything other than balls and strikes – plays at the plate, balks, foul balls, etc. And they throw the pitcher a new baseball if the ball is fouled off out of play or hits the dirt, etc. On the scoreboard, for every pitch, the ABS System shows the crowd, the players, the coaches, and the fans at home whether the ball thrown was a strike or a ball. No more human element on calling balls and strikes, the computer is now in charge. No freaking thank you!

Back when I was playing baseball, if an umpire made a mistake and knew it, there would be a makeup call. Sometime in your at bat or if you were on the mound, a blown strike or ball call would be a “marker” that you could have for another time in the at bat or the game. A wise man once told me, “baseball has a way of evening itself out.” So, if I was batting and fastball was out of the strike zone and called a strike, I would look back at the home plate umpire who would give me some sort of sign that he screwed up. It was one of those wonderful subtleties of baseball that the modern game doesn’t have. Baseball history is littered with umpire mistakes, player mistakes, coaching mistakes – all human error, all unfortunate, all part of what makes baseball so special. Is it frustrating when a call doesn’t go your way, absolutely. Is it part of the game I grew up playing and watching, very much so. Is it possible for the modern fan to embrace this concept, no freaking way. Thus, ABS and soon, subsequent new and improved ABS systems will take over the game and make it into something a true baseball fan won’t recognize in just a few short years.

I don’t work for Major League Baseball. I do not have any first hand knowledge of rules changes, upgrades, downgrades, additions, or subtractions to the current ABS System. I just know that modern fans are going to start chirping and chirping loudly on social media about the current ABS System and will demand through their keyboard courageous messages to “Change the System.” Major League Baseball will cave to the modern baseball fan and will make newer versions every few seasons to appease the modern fan. So, where do the true baseball fans stand at that point? Probably with me at a Summer Collegiate Baseball League, NCAA, Sandlot, or Vintage Base Ball League spot along the right field bleachers watching the game as it was intended. Umpired by humans, played by humans, coached by humans, cheered by true baseball fans, like myself.

See you at the ball fields!