Miami Marlins manager Clayton McCullough talks with umpire Stu Scheurwater as he makes lineup changes during the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field.

It's been a hotly debated topic ever since the coaches' challenge was introduced to Major League Baseball back in 2014. Now, the time has finally come. MLB has approved a new Automated Balls and Strikes (ABS) challenge system for the 2026 season.

That pivotal called strike three that should've been a walk and extended the game? Done away with ... potentially.

This system will work similarly to the challenge system already in place in Major League Baseball, giving teams two challenges each to start the game. With that in mind, if your favorite team has already wasted their two challenges by the time a crucial call comes around in the eighth or ninth inning, you're out of luck.

Still, after testing in Triple-A, spring training and during the 2025 MLB All-Star Game, this system has been praised by almost everyone involved. In fact, Rob Manfred reportedly lobbied hard for the change to the Joint Competition Committe, and although the four players in the committee were against the change, it was still approved.

And with that, the days of managers and umpires fighting over balls and strikes is behind us. Here's everything to know:

What is ABS?

ABS, or Automated Balls and Strikes, is exactly what it sounds like. It is an electronic system that will determine whether or not each pitch thrown was a ball or strike, with the strike zone determined prior to each plate appearance based on the player's height, which will be measured by independent parties before each player takes the field for a regular season game.

The challenge system itself will be exactly what it was for spring training in 2025. Each team will start the game with two challenges. Any successful challenge will overturn the call and that team will not lose that challenge. An unsuccessful challenge will obviously lose the team that challenge. Once a team loses two challenges, they will no longer be able to challenge calls for the rest of the game.

A ball-strike challenge must be made immediately after the initial call, per MLB. Only the pitcher, catcher and hitter may make the challenge and they will not be allowed to get any help from other players or members of their coaching staffs to determine whether a challenge should be called or not.

Is ABS effective?

Unsurprisingly, in testing, ball and strike calls were overturned nearly 50% of the time using the ABS system, making it one of the most fair and effective systems tested by MLB.

Catchers had the highest success rate for overturning calls, correctly challenging umpires 56% of the time. Pitchers, meanwhile, struggled, winning on just 41% of their challenges.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Explaining automatic balls and strikes 'robot umpires' system coming to MLB in 2026

Reporting by Jon Hoefling, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect