MLB's Competition Committee has approved the limited use of an automated ball-strike challenge system for the 2026 season by a vote of 7-4. MLB owners, in control of a six-seat majority on the 11-member committee, all voted in favour of robot umps.
So – at long last – has MLB finally decided to join the 21st century (with 1/4 of it in the rear view mirror), acquire some long-overdue common sense, and agreed that baseball games should be decided by baseball players? . . . Not quite.
The new ball-strike system will allow each team only two challenges per game.