Baseball purists aren’t going to like this.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday that the league will test an automated strike zone during spring training next year, with the goal of having the system fully operational in 2026.
“If we can solve those issues, we need to have spring training testing in ’25, and then ’26 becomes viable,” Manfred said. “Will it be that year? I’m not going to be indifferent to that issue.”
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Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. speaks during the 2024 Grapefruit League Spring Training Media Day at George M. Steinbrenner Field on February 15, 2024 in Tampa, Florida. (Mike Carlson/MLB Photo via Getty Images)
Automated strike zones were the subject of a 2017 episode of HBO’s now-defunct “Real Sports,” but Major League Baseball finally took action in 2019.
The Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) system began as a trial and has been in use at all Triple-A ballparks since last year.
The league considered two different systems — a challenge system in which officials would call the game normally and teams would be allowed to make a set number of challenges, or a full ABS system — and Manfred said players were “almost 100 percent” in favor of the former.
But, he said, “when you bring something to the major leagues you have to make sure it’s correct” and there are “technical issues with the definition of the strike zone.”
Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. speaks to the media during Spring Training Cactus League Media Day at the Arizona Biltmore on February 15, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photo via Getty Images)
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Calling balls and strikes has been done by humans for nearly 150 years, and many fear change, but umpires in all sports are facing increasing scrutiny.
This isn’t the first big change Manfred has brought to baseball. He has been at the forefront of some big changes to the game, most notably his reforms for the 2023 season that sped up the pace of the game by adding pitch timers, expanded bases and restrictions on stolen bases. To his credit, these reforms have worked.
According to Baseball-Reference, the average length of a nine-inning game last year was 2 hours and 39 minutes, more than 31 minutes shorter than the all-time record of 3 hours and 10 minutes set in 2021. It was the first time since 2015 that the average length of a nine-inning game was under three hours.
And the 2 hours, 39 minutes was the shortest nine-inning game duration since 1985, when the average time for a nine-inning game was the same. This year, the average nine-inning game duration is 2 hours, 35 minutes.
Just 0.4% of games lasted longer than three and a half hours in 2023, compared to 18.7% in 2021. And 30.5% of games lasted less than two and a half hours in 2023, compared to 2.5% three years ago.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred smiles during the logo unveiling for the 2024 All-Star Game on July 20, 2023 in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
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The rule changes, despite fan complaints that the game has changed too much, have also led to increased attendance: MLB is aiming to have 70.7 million fans in stadiums in 2023, the most since 2017.
This year’s attendance is expected to finish below that figure, but it’s important to remember there’s still plenty of summer left.
Manfred said he would. Retire from a position After the contract ends in 2029.
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