7:33pm: Major League Baseball’s Joint Competition Committee voted 9-2 to approve the ABS challenge system, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports. All six owners, three of the four players, and the lone umpire on the committee voted in favor of the change. 12:52pm: As expected, the ABS challenge system has been approved, per an MLB announcement. 11:50am: Major League Baseball’s …
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The robot umps are here. Major League Baseball’s competition committee on Tuesday afternoon approved the introduction of the automated ball-strike system, or ABS, for the 2026 regular season. Every team will begin next year’s games with two challenges of the home plate umpire’s strike zone, and a team will not lose one of its challenges when it gets the challenge …
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ATLANTA — Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark wondered Tuesday whether the automated ball-strike system would do well to provide a little grace, a half-inch or so, so that the system isn’t used to overturn calls that are wrong by a razor-thin margin. “Does there need to be some type of buffer-zone consideration?” Clark asked. “We haven’t …
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