Heading into the 2026 Major League Baseball season, the game looks a lot different than it did just a few years ago. In six years, the MLB has introduced the pitch clock, mound visit limits, time between pitching changes, position players pitching in relief and bigger bases.
But in 2026, MLB is introducing the biggest change yet, one of the most foundational in the sport’s history: you can challenge balls and strikes. The Automatic Ball/Strike System makes its rookie debut this season, let’s break down the scouting report.
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What is the Automatic Ball-Strike System (ABS)?
The MLB Automatic Ball-Strike System (ABS) is a challenge-based system that allows players to contest ball and strike calls using tracking technology. Each team gets two challenges per game and keeps them if successful.
How the ABS Challenge System Works
Here’s how the ABS challenge system works:
- Each team gets two challenges per game
- Teams receive additional challenges in extra innings
- If the challenge is successful, it is retained
- If the challenge is unsuccessful, the challenge is lost
- Only a pitcher, catcher or batter can initiate a challenge
- Players signal a challenge by tapping their helmet or cap
After a challenge, fans see a strike zone replay graphic on the stadium video boards in the outfield as the replay officials make the decision.
Why MLB Introduced the ABS System
The conversation about so-called “robot umpires” has been going on for years, driven primarily by concerns about missed calls in high-stakes moments.
Although umpires correctly call roughly 94% of pitches, the remaining missed calls can significantly impact games.
After years of testing in the minor leagues, the MLB Competition Committee voted last year to initiate the ABS system for the 2026 season.
Potential Impact of the ABS System
The ABS challenge system is expected to improve both accuracy and game dynamics.
- More consistent strike zone: Reduces variability based on umpire interpretation
- Fewer arguments: Over 60% of disputes in 2024-2025 were about balls and strikes
- Fewer ejections: Less arguing means fewer player and manager ejections
- Cleaner gameplay: Reduces delays caused disputes
The system uses Hawk-Eye tracking technology, which has been tested in the minor leagues since 2019.
Early results show:
- Teams win about 50% of challenges
- Reviews are quick and minimally disruptive
Overall, ABS is a non-intrusive way to get the call right, and it seems like a win-win-win for everybody.
More Recent MLB Rule Changes
The Automated Ball-Strike system joins a growing list of rule changes that Major League Baseball has instituted over the last five years in an effort to make games move faster and feel more exciting. The focus has been on eliminating what was slowing the game down, like the shift, time between pitches and time between pitching changes, while increasing the kind of plays fans find most exciting, like stolen bases and extra-base hits.
The Shift Ban
The overarching initiative behind all of these rule changes is to improve the on-field product, i.e. make it more exciting. Former Red Sox and Cubs general manager Theo Epstein was tasked with identifying the major causes of excitement in baseball. What he found was that plays showcasing the full athleticism of a player were most likely to generate excitement—stolen bases, home runs and extra-base hits where fans hold their breath watching a batter push for a double or triple while the outfielder races, dives or shows off their arm strength as they try to throw them out.
The infield shift had long undermined exactly those moments. Once teams were allowed to stack defensive players on one side of the field—especially against left-handed hitters—hard-hit balls that should have been base hits were being swallowed up by a shallow defender. That robbed the game of exciting plays it needed. A batter couldn’t get on base. They couldn’t try to turn a single into a double. And a defender was lazily fielding a routine grounder from the shallow outfield grass instead of showcasing their athleticism. More of a loophole than a genius defensive strategy.
The infield shift rule locks each infielder in their traditional position at the time of the pitch. As soon as the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand, they can shift. When the rule was tested in the minor leagues, the batting average on balls in play rose by eight points for left-handed hitters.
The Pitch Clock
Baseball has long been criticized for being too slow. And a big part of that comes down to simple math: add 30 seconds between every pitch, multiply that by 100 pitches, and you’re looking at nearly an hour of dead time in a single game.
Under the Pitch Clock instituted for the 2023 season, pitchers have 15 seconds to throw a pitch with the bases empty and 20 seconds with a runner on base. If they fail to do so, they’re charged with a ball. If a hitter isn’t in the batter’s box with eight seconds left on the pitch clock, they’re charged a strike.
When the pitch clock was tested in the minors, the Time of Game dropped 20 minutes.
Pickoff Limits
In another effort to speed up the game, pitchers are now limited in how many times they can disengage from the mound. That means any pickoff attempt—even a faked one, or simply stepping off the rubber—counts against a limit of two disengagements per plate appearance. A third step-off results in a balk, unless a wild pitch occurs during the at-bat, in which case the count resets.
But this rule isn’t just about eliminating needless pickoff attempts. It also puts a premium on those attempts and reduces the guesswork for base coaches and base runners trying to decide whether they’re in a good position to steal. Stolen base attempts had drastically declined in Major League Baseball for years, but when the minor leagues started instituting pickoff rules, they skyrocketed.
In the three years since the rule was adopted at the major league level, stolen base attempts have increased from 0.51 per game to over 0.70 per game. Juan Soto, for example, stole 38 bases in 2025 in large part because of the new pickoff restrictions.
Bigger Bases
In yet another effort to increase stolen base attempts—and reduce injuries for players diving headfirst into what is essentially a small wall at full speed — MLB expanded the size of the bases. The bigger bases, specifically at second base, allow more room to get around tags and avoid injury when attempting a steal. Combined with the new pickoff rules, larger bases have helped drive the overall increase in stolen base attempts per nine innings.
The Universal DH
In 2022, the designated hitter was adopted by the National League, which had long required pitchers to bat in all National League parks. In an effort to add more offense and standardize the game across both leagues, MLB extended the DH to the entire league — though it did sacrifice one of baseball’s more quirky traditions in the process.
The Extra-Inning Runner
If fans were complaining about nine-inning games running long, their opinions on a 14-inning game are not fit to print. To help end extra-inning games more quickly, MLB placed a runner at second base for the batting team beginning in the 10th inning and every half-inning thereafter.
The Three-Batter Minimum Rule
In an effort to reduce the number of pitching changes within an inning, MLB instituted a three-batter minimum, requiring starting pitchers and relievers to face at least three batters or reach the end of the half-inning before being replaced. The MLB also limited the amount of time pitchers could warm up once they entered their game. This helped cause a ripple effect for managers and coaches to be more proactive in managing their pitching throughout the game.
Position Players Pitching
Available arms are always a premium in the MLB, so if a team thought they were out of the game, they would simply throw in a utility infielder to get something over the plate rather than burning a high-leverage reliever in a low-leverage situation. That got out of hand in 2022, when there were 132 instances of a position player taking the mound.
Now a position player can only pitch if their team is trailing by at least eight runs at any point, or winning by at least 10 runs in the ninth inning. In extra innings, they can pitch as much as their manager allows.
The 2026 season of Major League Baseball is upon us, and the game’s rules have seen some major changes in recent years that fans and players alike need to be aware of. One of those changes has even superseded a rule that’s been in force since way back in 1882!
From widening the runner’s lane to refining pitcher warm-up protocols, these changes are poised to tweak gameplay dynamics. Join us as we explore the nuances and implications of these rule modifications and how they may shape the upcoming baseball season and beyond.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the biggest MLB rule change for 2026?
The major rule change in Major League Baseball for 2026 is the Automatic Ball-Strike system. This allows each team at least two challenges of ball-and-strike calls per game. A team keeps its challenge if it is successful, and additional challenges are available in extra innings.
What MLB rules have been implemented in the last six years?
In the last six years, the MLB has introduced the pitch clock, mound visit limits, time between pitching changes, position players pitching in relief and bigger bases. In 2026, the ABS was implemented.
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