From The Sports Desk: Baseball’s new frontier

MLB Opening Day is (technically) here!

MLB Opening Day is (technically) here! Baseball season starts tonight, as the San Francisco Giants take on the New York Yankees at 8:05 p.m. ET. The rest of the league will follow tomorrow afternoon.

At some point, history will be made: we’ll see the first ball-strike call challenged and reviewed by a new high-tech system called ABS. Honus Wagner is turning in his grave.

The video board displays the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system during a challenge by the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 11, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona. Christian Petersen / Getty ImagesFor more than a century, baseball’s home plate umpires have called a ball or strike based on an interpretation of a vague, loosely defined strike zone. These subjective calls decided at-bats, games, seasons and pennants — and, naturally, stirred endless debate.

Now, finally, there is an answer. For the first time, teams will be able to challenge balls and strike calls through the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system.

Here is a brief explainer of how it works: