With the World Series set to finally kick off tomorrow, we’re in the waning phase of potentially significant news drops before the offseason begins. None of these things are hard-and-fast rules, and sometimes news breaks when it breaks because that’s when the reporter gets the scoop. But generally speaking, you shouldn’t expect any major baseball news from tomorrow evening through the conclusion of the World Series.
With that in mind, Commissioner Rob Manfred was this week on the Dan Patrick Show discussing all things baseball, the full video for which I’ve embedded at the bottom of this post.
The big news reveal from Manfred was him stating definitively something that was previously rumored as a possibility: MLB will test the challenge version of automated balls and strikes (ABS) in Spring Training with big league players. No more maybes about it. The test is coming.
The drip, drip rollout of this technology has seen ABS reach Triple-A – with both a full version and a challenge system – so many big league players have already had experience with the system. Still, actually playing with it in Major League Spring Training games is a significant step.
As is always the case with these things, you have to hold two things in your mind at once: (1) just because this system is being tested in Spring Training, that doesn’t guarantee it’ll wind up in regular season games in the next few years; and/but (2) rules changes that reach the “test it in Spring Training” phase pretty much always get implemented in the regular season that year or the next year.
From there, you can note that Rob Manfred also did say explicitly that he believes some version of ABS is coming to MLB within the next four years. So, whether it’s 2026 (which is my guess) or 2027 or 2028, it’s coming. The technology is there. The desire is there.
For my part, I’m just glad that we’re finally getting close to something on this, and I’m also glad that MLB is leaning toward the challenge version of the system. Full ABS would also be fine, in my opinion, but I can’t deny there’s just something a little extra fun about having challenges – quick challenges! – involved in the process. Knowing when to use them, and when to hold them. Who is good at using them. Who is bad at using them. When does it swing a game, which could have gone the other way without ABS? There’s just a lot that we could enjoy in the moment.