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Chris Murphy's Take on Baseball's ABS Is a Swing and a Miss

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  March 30, 2026 1:30 PM

Major League Baseball (MLB) has introduced the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) for the 2026 season. With ABS, teams can challenge pitches they believe were incorrectly called balls or strikes. The majority of respondents in a 2022 Morning Consult poll supported a system with a human umpire making calls and allowing ABS for challenges.

In a weekend game between the Minnesota Twins and the Baltimore Orioles, we had MLB's first ejection after a walk on balls was overturned. 

Minnesota's manager, Derek Shelton, believed Orioles pitcher Ryan Helsley didn't challenge the called ball quickly enough, and it showed. Shelton was yelling some not-so-nice words at the umpire.

Here's more from Fox News:

Minnesota Twins manager Derek Shelton became the first manager to be ejected over the new Automated Balls and Strikes (ABS) system on Sunday in a loss against the Baltimore Orioles.

The Twins were trying to rally in the top of the ninth inning. Minnesota had a runner on first with Josh Bell at the plate going up against Ryan Helsley with one out. It appeared that Helsley threw a 3-2 pitch outside the zone, issuing a walk to Bell, which would have put two runners on base. As Bell walked to first base, Helsley pointed to his head and called for a challenge.

Under the ABS review, the pitch was reversed and called strike three.

Shelton was livid as he came out of the dugout. He argued that Helsley didn’t challenge the pitch quick enough. After a few moments of yelling, Shelton was ejected from the game.

Once again, Democrats take the losing side of the issue.

Of course they don't.

Fairness is foreign to Democrats.

This is accurate.

Much like our elections, to be honest.

This writer comes down on the side of supporting ABS as a limited tool for challenges. The human aspect of baseball is what makes it baseball, and she doesn't want the umpires removed entirely (even if they get it wrong sometimes). But yes, Democrats are so out of touch with reality that we have to wonder what color the sky is in their world.