Originally published by DodgerBlue.com
The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the midst of their second Cactus League season with the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System. The ABS Challenge System was introduced last year, but was limited to Spring Training only in the Majors.
The 2026 regular season will be the first with the system fully integrated, but the Dodgers have a long way to go before they can effectively use it to their advantage.
The team has struggled with its judgment on both sides of the ball, going 3-14 on challenges overall entering Saturday’s game. The Dodgers did get one to go their way on Saturday, but they rank last in success rate on challenges.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the team has to learn how to get better with the system, according to Doug Padilla of the Southern California News Group:
“We’re clearly not very good now but it’s part of the learning process for all of us,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We have to get more educated and get better at it.”
Under the way ABS rules work, the Dodgers will not be able to challenge a call for the rest of the game if they lose two challenges in regulation. It is worth noting that there are different rules in the event a game reaches extra innings.
Both Miguel Rojas and Dalton Rushing described how the Dodgers will change their approach to using challenges once the regular season starts. Rojas wants the players to have better situational awareness when choosing to challenge:
“We will have a better strategy behind it,” Rojas said. “We’ll be taking the leverage of the game into account.”
This includes factors such as the stage of the game, the number of outs and baserunners while on offense, and the size of their lead or deficit.
Meanwhile, Rushing said the value of having a challenge available in the late innings should influence the Dodgers’ decision-making:
“It’s usually safe to have at least one in your back pocket for the last three innings,” Rushing said. “Same thing with football and timeouts. You don’t want to burn them. You want to save them for after the 2-minute warning.”
The Dodgers will have to learn and adapt their process quickly as the regular season approaches, or risk falling behind in this new aspect of the game and losing a significant competitive advantage.
Dodgers player conflicted over ABS Challenge System
Will Smith believes there are both positives and negatives to the ABS challenge system coming to MLB.
Like with the pitch clock when it was first introduced, some players will need time to warm up to the ABS challenge system. While it’s a big change, an automated strike zone should only benefit the league in more ways than one.
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