Major League Baseball can now call balls and strikes with 100% accuracy… but will only use the system in the most annoying way possible

The 2026 Major League Baseball season will be the first in which a computer will be used to determine balls and strikes. The strike zone has been redefined for this Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) system, to eliminate subjectivity.

However, instead of simply using this technology, which allows MLB to set the strike zone with millimeter-level precision and enforce it with absolute consistency, to call all balls and strikes, it has decided to use it only sparingly, and in the most annoying way possible — with a challenge system.