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MLB Confirms League-Wide Use of Ball-Strike Challenge System Starting 2026
Newsweek ^ | September 23, 2025 | Julio Cesar Valdera Morales

Posted on 09/23/2025 7:43:13 PM PDT by DoodleBob

MLB announced Tuesday that the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System will be fully implemented in both leagues throughout the upcoming season. The general procedure for challenging balls and strikes called by the umpires was also announced.

According to a report by MLB.com, its implementation was approved by the Joint Competition Committee, which met on Tuesday to decide on the matter.

"Throughout this process, we have worked on deploying the system in a way that’s acceptable to players. The strong preference from players for the challenge format over using the technology to call every pitch was a key factor in determining the system we are announcing (Tuesday)."

The official MLB account on X posted a summary of the general rules governing how the ABS challenge system will operate during the upcoming season:

-Each team will get two challenges and can keep them if they're successful

-Challenges can only be initiated by a pitcher, catcher, or batter, and the request must come right after the pitch

-To signal a challenge, the pitcher, catcher, or batter will tap his hat or helmet to let the umpire know

-No help from the dugout or other players on the field is allowed

-In each extra inning, a team will be awarded a challenge if it has none remaining entering the inning

The ABS system works with Hawk-Eye technology, which has been so successful in other sports such as tennis. It is a measure that follows others implemented by MLB, including expanded video replay, PitchCom, and the pitch clock, among others.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: baseball

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https://sportslawblogger.com/what-is-the-typical-duration-of-a-major-league-baseball-game.html

MLB baseball games, consisting of nine innings, typically last around three hours and ten minutes on average. From 2000 to 2024, the average length of a nine-inning game has ranged from just under three hours to slightly over three hours. The introduction of a pitch clock in 2023 led to an average game lasting 2 hours and 42 minutes, which is the lowest since 1984 (2:35).

A video of all the action in a baseball game clocks in at just under 25 minutes. https://sportslawblogger.com/how-many-minutes-does-a-baseball-game-last.html

Get ready for an increase in time and less action.

1 posted on 09/23/2025 7:43:13 PM PDT by DoodleBob
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To: DoodleBob

No! We do not need the game slowed down by instant replay like football is. The calls of the umpires are part of the game. Live with it.


2 posted on 09/23/2025 7:46:29 PM PDT by Petrosius
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To: DoodleBob

Interesting to hear. So there’s about twenty five minutes of actual action , in an almost three hour baseball game.

The clock in football games runs for sixty minutes, and those games tend to take over three hours.

There sure is a lot of dead time in sports, isn’t there?

How much of that is due to the need to make time for TV commercials?


3 posted on 09/23/2025 7:51:19 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Dilbert San Diego
How much of that is due to the need to make time for TV commercials?

I wasn't aware of how much that really is until I attended a professional football game a couple of years ago. It's unbelievable. That is, after all, where the money is.

4 posted on 09/23/2025 7:53:10 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: DoodleBob

Good - I needed another reason not to follow MLB.

When do the male cheerleaders start prancing onto the field during the 7th inning stretch?


5 posted on 09/23/2025 7:53:26 PM PDT by decal (They won't stop, so they'll have to be stopped)
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To: DoodleBob

How about just replace MLB with a video game?

The human element is so unnecessary to the gambling industry.


6 posted on 09/23/2025 7:53:50 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Je suis Charlie Kirk.)
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To: DoodleBob

More challenges, as if the game isn’t slow enough. Make it interesting. Have the batter signal by scratching his testicles.


7 posted on 09/23/2025 8:00:21 PM PDT by samkatz
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To: DoodleBob

There are two issues I can see. First, is the top and bottom of the strike zone being set for knees to belt. The second issue will be having players with an earpiece to listen to the broadcasters for clues on whether a challenge was in order.


8 posted on 09/23/2025 8:15:22 PM PDT by the_Watchman
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To: DoodleBob; dfwgator; Frank Drebin

9 posted on 09/23/2025 8:32:46 PM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait.)
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To: the_Watchman

I think that both of my aforementioned issues and the potential of extra time issues would be answered by having each team allowed one person in a a broadcaster booth who views each pitch and they are the only people who can ask for a review immediately without them doing a replay.


10 posted on 09/23/2025 8:40:11 PM PDT by the_Watchman
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To: DoodleBob

I realize you didn’t state a position on the length of a game, but I am entertained when people complain about baseball’s length. The average football game lasts just under 3 hours and the average basketball game lasts a little over two and a half hours. Supposedly, there’s an hour of action in those.

Baseball is not slow. The average person who complains, generally speaking, doesn’t fully comprehend all that is happening. A no hitter, in my book, is very exciting yet not much has happened. A perfect game is even more exciting and even less has happened. Personally, I find repeated home run balls a little boring, depending on the situation, of course.


11 posted on 09/23/2025 9:10:21 PM PDT by rey
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To: DoodleBob

Baseball died when they took the pitcher out of the batting order.


12 posted on 09/23/2025 9:12:55 PM PDT by HIDEK6 (God bless Donald Trump)
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To: DoodleBob

I thought they were trying to speed things up. Hence, the little league move of putting a man on second to help break a 9 inning tie. The idea of having a challenge to ball/strike calls is incredibly stupid.

Was anyone asking for this? Anyone? Bueller?


13 posted on 09/23/2025 9:13:51 PM PDT by jocon307 (DEMOCRATS DELENDA EST)
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To: DoodleBob
Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System

What happens when the so-called "Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System" decides that the new female umpires have the most reversed calls?

-PJ

14 posted on 09/23/2025 9:20:35 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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To: DoodleBob

And for their next trick no more beer at the games. Make it real boring.


15 posted on 09/23/2025 9:51:04 PM PDT by Organic Panic ('Was I molested. I think so' - Ashley Biden in response to her father joining her in the shower. D)
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To: Petrosius

you’re ok when a totally obvious bad call determines a game right ?


16 posted on 09/23/2025 10:23:41 PM PDT by A strike (f the UK/MI6 effort to sucker the US into perpetuating their delusion of British world importance)
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To: nutmeg

.


17 posted on 09/23/2025 10:26:18 PM PDT by nutmeg (We are all Charlie Kirk now)
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To: DoodleBob

Wish they had this when Billy Martin was still managing.


18 posted on 09/23/2025 11:04:42 PM PDT by Zack Attack (✔)
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To: the_Watchman

The bottom of the automated strike zone will be set at 27% of a player’s height and the top set at 53.5% of their height.


19 posted on 09/24/2025 12:05:35 AM PDT by jjotto ("...saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau...")
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To: Petrosius

Why not have AI players as long as they have all the graphics on the screen like that box around the plate. The team owners would save a fortune....


20 posted on 09/24/2025 12:06:00 AM PDT by minnesota_bound (Making money now. Still want much more.)
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