MLB All-Star Game 2025 to Use ABS Challenge System Amid Possible Rule Change

MLB will continue to experiment with a challenge system for balls and strikes at the 2025 All-Star Game.

"The same process used this past spring training will be used for the midsummer classic: Each team will be given two challenges with the ability to retain them if successful," ESPN's Jesse Rogers wrote. "Only a pitcher, catcher or hitter can ask for a challenge and it has to happen almost immediately after the pitch. The player will tap his hat or helmet indicating to the umpire he wants to challenge while any help from the dugout or other players on the field is not allowed."

This spring's experiment seemed to be received well by players and fans. Disputed calls were resolved pretty quickly, and only giving each team two challenges meant they didn't interrupt the game too much.

The automatic balls and strikes (ABS) system even made for some lighthearted moments.

During a March game, Philadelphia Phillies star Trea Turner tapped his helmet for an obvious strike by the Toronto Blue Jays' Max Scherzer, his former teammate and somebody who isn't an ABS evangelist.

For all of the criticism umpires typically receive, the trial showed how often their calls behind the plate are correct. MLB said that 52.2 percent of the spring training challenges resulted in an overturn.

Utilizing ABS in the All-Star Game brings it one step closer to arriving in the regular season. The league's competition committee will consider its implementation as early as 2026.

However, this probably doesn't presage the dawn of "robo umps."

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told the New York Times' Michael S. Schmidt in April that players "prefer the challenge system because it's a smaller change and they generally prefer smaller changes." He also said fully automated balls and strikes would eliminate catcher framing, a skill that has allowed some at the position to stick around longer than they might've otherwise.

The committee still has to make the final call, but it looks more likely that a challenge system for games that matter is coming down the pike.