Baseball is a sport rooted in tradition, making every technological advancement and rule change a delicate balancing act. From instant replay to the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system, Major League Baseball has worked to modernize the game without changing the beloved pastime.
T-Mobile, the company behind many of the new advancements, has spent the last several years working behind the scenes to help develop the ABS challenge system, which launched in the Major Leagues at the start of the 2026 season.
According to Morgan Sword, the Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations at MLB, every change is rooted in improving the fan experience.
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“We have made changes to the game that are designed to be responsive to fans’ opinions,” he said. “We’ve tried very hard to keep in our heads that we’re really trying to accomplish two things here. Of course, we’re trying to get more calls right—we’re trying to get the right outcome and officiate the game as best we can. But also, we wanted to make the game better, and we want to be entertaining; we want fans to have a positive experience.”
That philosophy is perhaps most visible through the ABS challenge system, which allows pitchers, catchers and hitters to challenge a ball or strike call immediately after an umpire’s call. Without replacing the human aspect of the game, the technology gives players a limited number of opportunities to contest calls.
For T-Mobile, the ABS challenge system is just one example of how technology can enhance the fan experience while preserving baseball’s traditions.
“It’s all of those things and the experiences that we give fans; that’s really important to us as a partner, and we’ll continue to look at new ways to sort of push that year-over-year,” Amy Azzi, the VP of Sponsorships at T-Mobile, explained. “There’s 162 games that we can look at to continue pushing that experience forward, and I think you’ll start to see a lot of opportunities where technology can come into play.”
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And it’s not just the fans and the top executives who are enjoying what the new technology brings to the game. Current and former players alike (and surprisingly, the umpires) have spoken favorably about the ABS challenge system.
Former Philadelphia Phillies star Chase Utley believes the system would have been valuable throughout his 16-season career.
“I think it would have helped,” he said. “I think what we’re seeing right now is calls are getting right, and at the end of the day, it’s about getting the calls.”
Following the success of the ABS challenge system, T-Mobile and MLB will continue using their partnership and new technologies to push the sport forward without replacing traditions.
