Overview
- MLB will use an automated ball-strike challenge system in 2026 that gives each club two challenges per game, preserves a challenge when successful, and restores one if a team enters extra innings without one.
- Spring training trials are producing fast, fan-visible rulings in a few seconds with scoreboard graphics, with samples showing roughly half of challenges overturned and about four reviews per game.
- The Dodgers have struggled to win challenges this spring at 5-for-27 entering Saturday, prompting manager Dave Roberts to convene a strategy forum, while the Yankees reportedly lead in successful overturns.
- Detroit is empowering all eligible players to challenge as A.J. Hinch stresses strike-zone knowledge, and Tarik Skubal demonstrated the approach by winning a challenge on a borderline pitch.
- High-profile sequences, including three first-inning overturns of C.B. Bucknor calls in an Astros–Nationals game, are intensifying scrutiny of umpire accuracy as clubs refine policies before Opening Day.