Ahead of the New York Mets‘ Opening Day clash with the Pittsburgh Pirates, manager Carlos Mendoza had a clear message for his clubhouse: play ball, and leave the officiating to the machines.
With the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system officially making its regular-season debut, Mendoza is wary of his players getting bogged down in the mechanics of the new technology.
“We’ve got to go out there and we’ve got to play baseball,” Mendoza told reporters during his pre-game presser. “I don’t want guys trying to be umpires or overthinking when they’re going to challenge a call.”
Under the new rules, players trigger a challenge by tapping their helmets, a signal to the officiating crew to consult the Hawk-Eye tracking system. Alongside that situation, heading into the opener, all eyes are on Freddy Peralta as he navigates the high expectations of the 2026 season alongside looming contract extension talks.
Carlos Mendoza #64 of the New York Mets
History made in the first challenge
While the Mets prepare for their opener, history has already been made elsewhere. During Wednesday night’s matchup between the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants, Jose Caballero became the first player to officially trigger the ABS system in a regular-season game.
Facing a 90.7 mph sinker from Logan Webb in the fourth inning, Caballero signaled for the challenge on a pitch that caught the upper-inner corner.
The drama was short-lived; the Hawk-Eye cameras upheld the original strike call, cementing Caballero as the first player in MLB history to lose an ABS challenge.
The stakes are high for the new system. According to StatMuse, there were over 1,900 challenge attempts throughout Spring Training as MLB fine-tuned the process. Now that the games actually count, the league—and the fans—will be watching closely to see if the “human element” is being improved or simply replaced.
SurveyWill the Mets finally find a technological remedy for the missed calls of years past?
Will the Mets finally find a technological remedy for the missed calls of years past?
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