SAN FRANCISCO — Baseball’s new reality has arrived. Blink, and you’d miss it. The Giants came out on the winning side of the first Automated Balls and Strikes (ABS) challenged pitch in MLB history.

Major League Baseball has made some serious changes to the sport in recent years. From the universal DH to replay challenges to pitch clocks, and 2026 will be no different. This year, the league is ...

After tinkering with the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system for a few years, MLB brought the technology to the regular season in 2026. It didn’t take long before the new technology was put ...

With a new Major League Baseball season here, a major change will play a unique role in how the year progresses. Coming to the majors this season is the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System, or ABS ...

Welcome to Snyder's Soapbox! Here, I pontificate about matters related to Major League Baseball on a weekly basis. Some of the topics will be pressing matters, some might seem insignificant in the ...

Detailed view of the scoreboard showing an ABS ball and strike challenge call being overturned to a strikeout during the Chicago White Sox against the Chicago Cubs during a spring training game at ...

Another major change is coming to MLB. Just years after the ghost runner and pitch clock rules significantly changed the rhythm of baseball, shortening game length, the league is now addressing a ...

From the moment MLB began testing an automated strike zone in the minor leagues, its eventual arrival to regular season MLB games was an inevitability. And that time has finally arrived. After testing ...

Here's what we can expect from the ABS challenge system in the 2026 MLB season based on spring training data. MLB is implementing the ABS challenge system in the regular season for the first time in ...

Call them an extra set of eyes. With the start of Major League Baseball's regular season this week, the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System makes its debut in all 30 ballparks. The system, ...

Richie Garcia is worried about the impact that robot umpires will have on their human counterparts. Major League Baseball introduced the Automated Ball-Strike System for regular-season play this ...

Robo-umps have arrived. Kinda. Beginning this season, Major League Baseball will use the ABS (short for automated balls and strikes) challenge system, so it's not full robo-umps, but there is now a ...