Sports · Baseball · 1 hr ago
ABS challenges are more frequent and successful in MLB playoffs
Major League Baseball teams used the Automated Ball-Strike System, or ABS, more often in the first two rounds of the 2026 playoffs.
The system lets players challenge an umpire’s call on whether a pitch was a ball or a strike.
Across 25 Wild Card and Division Series games, teams won 71 of 121 challenges, a 59% success rate compared with 54% during the regular season.
Hitters won 29 of 51 challenges, or 57%, compared with 49% in the regular season.
Teams made an average of 4.8 challenges per game, up from 4.3, and a team loses its challenges after two unsuccessful attempts in a game.
Catchers won 60% of their challenges, while the only pitcher to challenge, Tampa Bay’s Griffin Jax, won.
The postseason figures show how players are using a new tool to question calls, but the numbers cover only the first two rounds.
MLB teams used the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) more often in the first two postseason rounds than during the regular season.
Teams won 71 of 121 challenges across 25 Wild Card Series and Division Series games, a 59% success rate compared with 54% in the regular season.
Batters won 29 of 51 challenges, a 57% success rate, up from 49% during the regular season.
Teams made 4.8 challenges per game, compared with 4.3 in the regular season.
Catchers won 42 of 70 challenges, while the only pitcher to challenge, Tampa Bay’s Griffin Jax, was successful.
- Who
- MLB teams, including batters, catchers and pitchers using ABS challenges.
- What
- Teams challenged ball-strike calls more often in the postseason, and challenges were successful at a higher rate than in the regular season.
- When
- During the 25 games of the 2026 Wild Card Series and Division Series.
- Where
- Major League Baseball’s postseason. Specific venues are not stated.
- Why
- Not stated.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Teams made 121 ABS challenges over 25 games, winning 71.
Philadelphia’s J.T. Realmuto made the first game-ending ABS challenge in postseason history against Atlanta.
- Overall challenge success
- 71 of 121, or 59%
- Batters’ success
- 29 of 51, or 57%
- Challenges per game
- 4.8 in the postseason; 4.3 in the regular season
- Catchers’ success
- 42 of 70, or 60%
- Most challenges by a team
- Atlanta: 22, winning 14 over seven games
What people are saying
Maybe a little more cautious
It's a new muscle for these guys to instinctually have, so I think if this is the route we go for the next few years guys will get more and more instinctually
Some of the first-inning challenges, 1-0 counts, it’s like, let’s let those go and save them for when we might need them later in the game
My message has always been, the lower the leverage, the more certainty you need to have and vice versa.
Sources
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