Opening Day for the MLB kicked off on March 25, 2026 in San Francisco, California with the New York Yankees playing against the San Francisco Giants on Netflix. For the rest of the league it started the following day on the 26th. With the start of the season, there are some new changes being implemented into America’s pastime.

The big new change in the game is the Automated-Ball Strike (ABS) Challenge System. The ABS system is when the batter, catcher or pitcher can instantly challenge the call made by the home plate umpire using high speed camera technology. By simply tapping the top of their head within 2 seconds after the call, the whole stadium can then see up on the jumbotron if the call was correct or not. Each team gets 2 challenges per game and if they don´t win they lose a challenge, but if the play gets overturned they get to keep their challenge.

The first official ABS challenge was during the Yankees/Giants opening game when Yankee shortstop Jose Caballero challenged the call which was a strike. He did not win the challenge after the play was put on the big screen, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that his helmet will be displayed in the Baseball Hall of Fame since this was the very first ABS challenge ever made. There have been 175 challenges since this new rule has been introduced. The team with the highest correct challenges so far has been the New York Yankees, and the player with the most correct challenges in the whole league is Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels.

There are some mixed reviews from fans, but the majority of them enjoy watching the play up on the jumbotron and get excited when the call is overturned. Fans are eager to see how the new ABS system will affect baseball going forward. It will be interesting to see how many calls get overturned this season, and if it will create some big moments in some tight games. One thing that seems to be true is that the new ABS system is definitely filling the games with some added excitement.