How Should the 2026 Red Sox Use the New ABS System?
With one grand technological development, Major League Baseball hopes to make the world a little more peaceful. In the 2026 season, the league will implement the Automated Ball-Strike or ABS Challenge System. This allows teams to challenge an umpire's pitch call at the plate and check the replay with fine-tuned technology. So settle down, irate fans who try to break their televisions. Breathe easier, managers and coaches who yell until their faces are unnaturally red. Relax, bleacher dwellers who berate “Blue”, to use the pejorative referee term. ABS is here to change baseball for the better, for everyone. Right?
Just like any major change to a professional sport, the rules and restrictions on ABS challenges pose new opportunities for strategy and optimization. The guidelines state that every team will get two challenges per game. If the challenge is successful, it is retained. If not, it is gone for the remaining innings. The only people allowed to call for review are pitchers, catchers, and hitters. With Spring Training in full swing, players and coaches everywhere are determining the best utilization for their new abilities. Some teams have said that their pitchers will not be allowed to call for reviews, as their vantage point on the strike zone can be insufficient. Certain managers, while not technically able to make the call themselves, have been attempting a red light and green light system for when it is okay to question a call. It can be hard to judge when it will be most useful. Certainly, it is a plus to have challenges to spare later in the game, when one pitch might matter an awful lot. That being said, a second-inning strike could decide the game; baseball is confusing in that way.
The Red Sox, while not radical in their ABS approach, have demonstrated interest in the system. Challenges have been thrown with some regularity in the opening weeks of Grapefruit League ball. Manager Alex Cora has encouraged experimentation and commented on the potential learning opportunity. “We probably have to be very disciplined on top of the zone”, Cora told MLB.com, “which is something that we haven't done the last few years, a lot of swing-and-misses there, but understanding now that that pitch might be a ball. It'll be good for us to train the right way and start laying off those pitches.” Perhaps this thought could help rectify power concerns that surround the 2026 Boston squad. Similarly, the nine-time World Series Champions have struggled in recent seasons at hitting with runners in scoring position. Some more structure to those at-bats could strengthen the discipline of those in the batter’s box.
Cora’s point is intriguing. It is an important reminder of the fluidity of the sport. This school of thought has decreased in relevance over the years, as pitch clocks, analytics, and automated zones dominate discourse. Yet, baseball, arguably more than other major sports, has this long relationship with subjectivity. It has always been just one official’s best judgment for close calls. These rulings could vary over time, often with the help of subtle manipulation from teams. Strike zones could breathe, expanding and contracting depending on the moment. Technology posits that this version of athletic reality can be done away with. Only time will tell if more rigidity helps or hurts the boys at Fenway Park.
