He baseballlike all sports, he has always lived with a simple truth: human error also plays. Just as a batter is struck with the full bases or a gardener drops a routine fly, a umpire can fail in a strike.
And that imperfection is part of the soul of the game. With the confirmation that in 2026 the ABS challenges system will enter into force, MLB He is one step away from turning the referees into simple ornaments.
Rob Manfred Sells the idea that this system is “the midpoint”: neither a robot dictating each launch nor the human eye without a safety network. But let’s be sincere: when technology enters, it always ends up taking over the house.
Today it looks like a friendly costume, tomorrow will be the end of the umpires as we know them.
Umpir work in 2025
The ironic thing is that, according to UMPSCORECARDS and STATCAST data, the referees are not as bad as you want to see. In 2025 its percentage of success in balls and strikes is around 93-94%. What does it mean? That nine out of ten times are right.
So what are we correcting? A real error of the game or the sick obsession to achieve perfection?
Baseball has already changed with the pitching clock, with the video review and now with a system that dictates balls and strikes “in real time.” That magic of discussing in the stands or at the bar whether the pitching entered the corner was over. The controversy was part of the sauce. Today everything is summarized in a graph on the screen and ready. Closed case.
It is no accident that some players prefer this model of challenges and not the complete ABS. There is an emotional attachment to the Umpire, to that gesture that defines a shift, which lights the stadium. But each challenge won will, deep down, a reminder that the referee no longer has the last word. And once you lose that authority, the rest is a matter of time.
In the name of precision, MLB is sacrificing the discussion, drama and humanity that gave flavor to the game. What is coming is an impeccable baseball … but empty, a soulless baseball.
