On Tuesday, Major League Baseball officially announced that they are going to make a change for the 2026 season. MLB will be adding an ABS Challenge System, which will see balls and strikes being challenged to further perfect the game.
This article will help explain how the ABS Challenge System will work next season. Here are the rules:
- 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 Challenge System powered by T-Mobile 5G network uses cameras set up around the perimeter of the field to track the location of each pitch and a graphic on the scoreboard shows the result of the challenge.”
There are still some questions that fans will not have answers to as of right now. Once the league sees more of these challenges, then it will be easier to improve it.
One of the rules is: “The request must come right after the pitch.” That time needs to be definitive. Is it one second after the pitch? Two seconds, or even three seconds, after the pitch? Will the umpire make a judgment call based on when the helmet is being tapped? Will teams create code words to issue a challenge, even though help isn't allowed? Is it smart to challenge late in the game compared to early on, even if there is a critical missed call?
These are good questions to have. I am sure there will be a further explanation for all of these rules, and by the time Spring Training begins in February, the league will be in much better hands. The old school fans won't like this, but the league has seen way too many blown calls. ESPN's Jeff Passan said there are usually 1,000 missed calls a week.
