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Cubs left fielder Ian Happ had a scheduling conflict when MLB’s Joint Competition Committee approved the Automatic Ball Strike (ABS) challenge system – or robot umpires, as the system is referred to colloquially – beginning in 2026. But if he had a vote, he would have cast it in favor of ABS, he told the Sun-Times on Tuesday.
“The player group was predominantly a yes,” said Happ, an alternate player representative on the committee. “I think it was important to represent that in the votes.”
ABS is set to be implemented for spring training, the regular season, and the playoffs.