00:00The Joint Competition Committee is meeting today virtually, Tuesday, and the big news that is going to come out of that almost certainly is that we're going to get the automated ball strike system challenge for next year, for 2026.
00:16It's an 11-person committee. There are six owners on the committee, four players and one umpire, and the six owners are key.
00:24It means that MLB has a majority. The commissioner is very much in favor of the automatic ball strike system, you know, which has been tested since 2021 in the minors.
00:36It became regular in AAA in 2022. You might have seen it in spring training this year. You might have seen it at the All-Star Game this year.
00:44Most of the players are very familiar with this system now. It would be two challenges a game.
00:49The only people who can make the challenge are the pitcher, the catcher, and the hitter. You'll get familiar with this if you aren't already. It's a tap on the head.
00:57It's got to happen quickly. You can't look to the dugout. You can't use video for this. You got to turn to the umpire, give this if you're the catcher, hitter, or the pitcher, and say, I want that pitch challenged.
01:07If anyone's seen a tennis match that uses that kind of ballistic tracking system, MLB will be using the same thing.
01:13It will show on the scoreboard whether the ball is in the square or not. The square will be set by the height of each player as it was done at the All-Star Game.
01:23Two challenges a game. If you're right, you get to keep the challenge. If you lose it, down to one challenge, lose it again. No challenge is the rest of the game.
01:32It hasn't seemed to really impact pace of play. It does seem to be popular. Fans like to look up on the scoreboard and see if it's going to be a ball or strike.
01:41I'm sure there'll be some controversy about it early next year. There's controversy on every issue now, but I think robot umpires are here, and they're going to be part of the 2026 season.
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