All-Star Game will debut the ABS challenge system

[Brock Beauchamp]

The ABS challenge system will get in front of the most fans in the game that matters the least. It's a pretty good combo to demonstrate this technology. What do you think of the challenge system?

https://brewerfanatic.com/news-rumors/milwaukee-brewers/the-abs-challenge-system-is-the-newest-addition-to-this-years-mlb-all-star-roster-r3574/ 

[tony&rodney]

The challenge system is Manfred playing games again. If MLB is totally solid on the technology to call balls and strikes accurately all the time, use it. I'm fine with the umpires until such time as the technology is ready to work full time. Why use a system part time if it is superior to the current system?

I watch too many minor league games and the umpires sometimes get a little testy when there are multiple successful challenges in an inning. Eventually teams run out of challenges and then we see some sloppy calls which cannot be challenged. Use ABS or don't - the challenge system is lame.

[mnfireman]

https://www.mlb.com/news/2025-mlb-all-star-game-features-tributes

[nicksaviking]

On 7/9/2025 at 11:01 PM, tony&rodney said:

The challenge system is Manfred playing games again. If MLB is totally solid on the technology to call balls and strikes accurately all the time, use it. I'm fine with the umpires until such time as the technology is ready to work full time. Why use a system part time if it is superior to the current system?

I watch too many minor league games and the umpires sometimes get a little testy when there are multiple successful challenges in an inning. Eventually teams run out of challenges and then we see some sloppy calls which cannot be challenged. Use ABS or don't - the challenge system is lame.

I'm guessing there's way more to it than that. The MLB Umpire Association and old school fans who can't stand anything even resembling change are going to make a scene about this.

[tony&rodney]

31 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I'm guessing there's way more to it than that. The MLB Umpire Association and old school fans who can't stand anything even resembling change are going to make a scene about this.

Agree that the conversations are on multiple levels with some of the different parties having strong views. My guess is that umpires would like the system to remain as it has always been. If change must come, I would think the umpires would prefer ABS all the time. Those who want the challenge system may be thinking that that introduces an interest level. 

My personal take is - use ABS always or don't at all. If not using ABS, create financial incentives for greater accuracy. There may be some in place currently. I don't know about that.

As far as people not liking change, the vast majority of people have seen and accepted massive change in their lifetimes. Some of the recent changes were largely PR stunts. An example is the pitch clock. Baseball never had a clock but it has always had rules about the batter getting in the box and the pitcher pitching in a timely manner. The rules included the number of seconds but enforcement was left up to the umpire. MLB took away that enforcement at some point even as the rules remained. In high school, college, amateur, and minor league ball umpires still called strikes on batters or balls on pitchers if they didn't comply with an umpire's request. This is why you didn't see 3-4 hour high school (and other levels) games. I saw this on a number of occasions as a player and coach/manager. I wonder if the rules will be slightly altered going forward. Now, the batter gets one timeout and almost every batter uses it. Maybe MLB adds one timeout every three batters for the pitcher. Currently, pitchers need to call the umpire out to look at the pitch device/ "It isn't working" or request time to tie a shoelace. It's all good though and I'm fine with whatever for the most part. Even the ghost runner has merits for players and stadium employees. They get to go home. I'm fine with tie games if the goal is to shorten the time by reducing innings after 9 played. Everyone has thoughts though.

[The Great Hambino]

I see MLB's stance on an ABS system as a sort of parallel with the NFL trying to move to 18 games.

They want 18 games, but there was too much pushback to go from 16 to 18, so they took the half-measure of going to 17 games.  The next time this comes around, the idea of moving from 17 to 18 will be easier to sell than going straight to 18 right away.

I think MLB would like a full system, but it will be easier to transition from the challenge system down the road as opposed to trying to make the more drastic change right away.  It won't be such a stark change and everyone will be a little more used to the ABS system if it's been used for challenges at the MLB level for some time. 

[Parfigliano]

On 7/14/2025 at 9:01 AM, nicksaviking said:

I'm guessing there's way more to it than that. The MLB Umpire Association and old school fans who can't stand anything even resembling change are going to make a scene about this.

Uck 'em.  

[Vanimal46]

Robo umps are here and will be fully implemented in 2026