Watching baseball on television will reportedly look somewhat different in 2026. A report from Jeff Agrest of the Chicago Sun-Times Sunday says that the strike zone box fans are used to seeing on TV will no longer show whether a pitch was called a ball or a strike. That decision comes in advance of the automatic ball/strike (ABS) challenge system coming to the big leagues for the 2026 regular season.
Different networks used different markings to show whether a pitch was called a ball or a strike, like a filled-in circle versus an open circle or a circle with a backwards K versus an empty circle. Now, the strike-zone box will show location of the pitch, but not the call. According to Agrest, the box will not be shown on any monitor in the stadium with the expecption of the monitors in the broadcast booth in order to prevent teams from being able to exploit ABS.
With ABS, the challenge can not come from the dugout. Only the pitcher, catcher, and batter may challenge the ball or strike call, and the challenge must be made immediately after the umpire makes his call. The player will signal for a challenge by tapping his hat or helmet. The result of the challenge will be then shown on scoreboard, including whether the call on the field was confirmed or overturned and the resulting count of the at-bat.
Fans saw ABS used during big league Spring Training games in 2025, and has been a part of minor league baseball games at various levels since 2022. According to Agrest’s report, MLB says challenges during Spring Training in 2025 added about 14 seconds to the time of the game per challenge made. In the Major Leagues, each team will get two challenges per game, but will only lose a challenge if they are unsuccessful.
