The A’s and Giants have the best robot-ump challenge rates in the first 10 days of spring

By: The Associated Press Posted: 12:28 PM CST Monday, Mar. 2, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — The Athletics had the highest success rate using the robot-umpire system to overturn ball/strike calls during the first 10 days of spring training, winning 69.2% of challenges as teams prepared for its regular-season debut March 25.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/03/2026 (228 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

San Francisco was second at 66.7%, followed by Cincinnati, Miami and San Diego at 61.9% each, Major League Baseball said Monday.

The World Series champion Dodgers had the lowest rate, winning 21.4% of appeals to the Automated Ball-Strike System. Baltimore was at 25%, the New York Mets at 35.3% and Texas at 38.1%.

FILE - The Automated Ball/Strike System plays on the scoreboard after a pitch call was challenged during the first inning of a spring training baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the San Diego Padres, Feb. 26, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

MLB’s overall success rate was 51.3%, with an average of 2.3 challenges per game.

The New York Yankees averaged the most challenges at 3.8 per game, winning 52.6%. Minnesota was second at 3.6 (winning 58.3%), followed by Boston at 3.2 (55.2%) and Colorado (55.6%) and San Francisco at 3.0.

Baltimore averaged the fewest challenges at 1.2. The Dodgers were at 1.4 and Detroit was at 1.5 (46.7%).

MLB experimented with ABS during spring training last year and teams won 52.2% of their ball/strike challenges (617 of 1,182). MLB began testing in the minor leagues in 2019.

Each team has the ability to challenge two calls per game. A team retains its challenge if successful, similar to the regulations for big league teams with video reviews, which were first used for home run calls in August 2008 and widely expanded to many calls for the 2014 season.

A team out of challenges for a game tied after nine innings would get one additional challenge in each extra inning.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb