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The 2026 MLB season is officially here, but not without one of the most major changes in the history of the sport.
After a century-and-a-half of complete human element behind home plate, batters, catchers and pitchers will now have the ability to challenge balls and strikes. The challenge must be almost immediate, and each team gets two and retains correct challenges.
Baseball Hall of Famer CC Sabathia once predicted that somebody would hit .400 if there were a fully automated strike zone. While baseball isn’t there just yet, the 250-game winner does believe a boost of offense will come.
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The scoreboard displays a Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge sponsored by T-Mobile during the spring training game between the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium on March 16, 2026, in Lakeland, Florida. (Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
“If you just watch the games, you see how much that these guys know the strike zone, and pitchers actually have to throw the ball over the plate,” the New York Yankees legend said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. “I think it will increase offense. Just watching these games in spring training and seeing how close these guys actually know the strike zone. I think it can only help with offense, and honestly, just get all the calls right.”
With the system, though, the art of pitching is being adjusted. For starters, pitches, well, need to be strikes, and breaking balls off the plate may not go the pitcher’s way.
But several pitchers have taken advantage of throwing some curveballs at the top of the zone, an unorthodox pitch that would normally be called a ball due to an odd angle combined with human error, but the ABS system could rule them strikes.
Sabathia, showing his bias, admitted that he would likely have left the challenging to his catcher, but he added that he would have had to adjust to the system.
New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia (pitches against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning at Yankee Stadium. (Andy Marlin/USA TODAY Sports)
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“I would have just wanted to make sure my backdoor slider was on the plate and being called a strike. It would have been a bit of an adjustment for me, but I always wanted to make sure that the calls were getting right,” he said. “Like, we were getting the right calls every time. So I would have had no problem with the ABS.”
It’s quite the major change in baseball, which has undergone several reconstructions. Perhaps none prior to the ABS system, though, have been bigger than the pitch clock. And while it’s a thorn in baseball purists’ side, Sabathia is a huge fan.
“It’s been huge getting the guys out of the ballpark, getting fans back to the ballpark during the week, during the school year because you know the game’s going to be over in two-and-a-half hours. It’s made a huge difference, not only just in gameplay and speeding up the game, but just the way fans are able to watch it and digest it. I would watch two games at a time, now I don’t, because you can kind of miss something. I actually love the way the game moves now, the way that the guys keep pace, nobody complains about the clock. It’s a natural thing now.”
New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia waves to fans during his ceremony before the game between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. (Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports)
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The ABS system was implemented in last year’s spring training after years of experimentation in the minor leagues and the Arizona Fall League.
The rule changes, which began in 2023, have proven to be beneficial for MLB, as attendance has increased in each of the last three years, the first time attendance has increased in back-to-back-to-back seasons since it occurred in four straight from 2004 to 2007. It also should be noted that there has been an increase in single-admission doubleheaders, and last season, two teams played in minor league ballparks.
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