ARLINGTON, Texas — Within a few years of the radical rule innovations that hastened games, the next seismic shifts in Major League Baseball are going to be how it calls something so fundamental as balls and strikes and how fans tune in to judge that new technology.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said a system to call automated balls and strikes, or ABS, could be in the majors within two seasons.
Already in the minors, it could be game-tested in spring training as early as 2025.
“Which would make it 2026 a viable possibility,†Manfred said.
During separate but consecutive news conferences Tuesday at the All-Star Game with members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, Manfred and players union chief Tony Clark commented on a wide range of topics. They covered participation in the 2028 Olympic Summer Games to trading draft picks to the Athletics’ ongoing relocation quagmire to Las Vegas by way of Sacramento. Of all the topics covered, two figure to influence the industry most in the coming years before the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement.
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The practice of calling balls and strikes is going to change.
The broadcast model for how fans access games is going to change.
“The (regional sports network) business model is really deteriorating. We know the future is going to be streaming,†Manfred said about the once-lucrative system that has been buffeted by bankruptcy and ongoing court hearings that will force the model to change. “When you talk to people in the streaming business, they’re not really interested in buying the state of Wisconsin and two counties in Michigan. They want to be able to stream, quite frankly, all over the U.S. and Canada, (and) more broadly internationally.
“They want a more national product,†he continued, “and we need to be responsive to what people want to buy.â€
Getting to that point will be tricky.
Major League Baseball does not yet have the ability to negotiate a streaming package for all 30 clubs, and the next round of national broadcast negotiations are set for 2028. Manfred said he envisions a process where MLB enters into a streaming deal with 14 or 15 clubs and “a situation where we grow into a 30-club model.†A goal for some owners, like the Cardinals, is to shed the blackout restrictions and make their games more available to more people, preferably in a direct-to-consumer subscription. A snag in that plan is how RSN agreements have been a faucet for revenues — and those are shriveling due to cord-cutting.
Not involved in the bankruptcy case or its resolution at the moment, a shift to the national broadcast model would bring the MLB Players Association into the arena because, as Clark noted, it involves “items that just can’t be flipped during the middle of a bargaining agreement.â€
The players are already involved in the ABS arrival.
Manfred said the tech has improved to call pitches within a hundredth of an inch and can precisely track pitch movement. Based on input from players, MLB expects to implement a challenge system where umpires still call balls and strikes but the hitter, pitcher and catcher have the right to challenge the call a limited amount of times. ABS would be used for the challenges. The union has some modern concerns.
“Even with the challenge system as to how the strike zone itself is going to be considered, what that looks like, how consistent it’s going to be, (and) what happens in a world where Wi-Fi goes down in the ballpark or the tech acts up on any given night?†Clark said. “We’re seeing those issues, albeit in minor league ballparks. We do not want to end up in a world where at a major league ballpark we end up with more questions than answers as to the integrity of that night’s game or calls associated with it. Yes, the league is continuing to make a push.â€
- On the 2028 Olympics: MLB owners recently heard a pitch from Casey Wasserman, chairman of LA 2028, about having big league players participate in the Summer Games when they return to Los Angeles in four years. Baseball, which is not featured in the Paris games this month, will return for LA in ’28. Several prominent players have expressed interest in participating, though everything from how to adjust the schedule to who covers the insurance on injuries would all have to be determined.
One possibility to be explored is how the 2028 All-Star Game has yet to be awarded to a city. The LA games would overlap with the usual timing of the Midsummer Classic.
“I remain open-minded on that topic,†Manfred said. “Forget about what’s going to happen to baseball in the Olympics long-term. When you’re in LA and you focus on LA, it is an opportunity that we need to think about.â€
Clark said the union would work on it if the players are intrigued by the Olympics.
- On returning to Rickwood: Both Clark and Manfred raved about the experiences they had personally and baseball had collectively this past month when the Cardinals hosted the San Francisco Giants for a regular-season game at Rickwood Field, the oldest ballpark in the United States. The game was a celebration of the Negro Leagues and featured living players from the Negro Leagues at a time that MLB announced it would include Negro League statistics in its official rankings and records.
Manfred said the plan is to return to Birmingham, Alabama, with an event of some kind and not treat the game at Rickwood as a one “and we’re done.â€
“Having an event and then disappearing is not what we should be doing,†Clark said. “So I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful that we can have dialogue about the game continuing and or events around it continuing. I’m hopeful that it’s not one stop, one year, in and out and we’re done.â€
On trading draft picks: Manfred expressed an openness to the discussion about introducing something to the MLB draft that, unlike other celebrated pro sports drafts, has never permitted. With the exception of the recently introduced competitive balance picks, MLB clubs have never had the chance to trade a draft pick, to flip the first overall pick into a major league return that could help sooner or trade down to accumulate more picks.
An All-Star Game absent Cardinals
With Ryan Helsley electing not to pitch in Tuesday night’s game, the Cardinals were left without a representative to take the field. It’s the first time since the 2007 All-Star Game in San Francisco that a Cardinal has not appeared in the box score, and that was a stunning absence considering Albert Pujols remained on the bench when the game ended with his own manager in charge of the substitutions.
As World Series champion in 2006, Tony La Russa and his staff led the National League into the Midsummer Classic, and La Russa later explained he stashed Pujols on the bench because of his defensive versatility and the concern for extra innings.
Like Helsley, Pujols was the lone Cardinal selected for that All-Star Game.
With no Cardinal voted into the starting lineup this season it’s the first time since 2019 that the Cardinals did not have a starter for the NL. Nolan Arenado represented the Cardinals and started in 2021 and 2023, and Paul Goldschmidt started the 2022 game at Dodger Stadium.
Cardinals coaches galore, etc.
The pitching coaches for both All-Star clubs Tuesday had ties to the Cardinals. Brent Strom returned to professional baseball when invited to oversee minor league pitching for the Cardinals and, after leaving in 2011, has been big league pitching coach for World Series teams in Houston and, this past fall, Arizona.
Former Cardinals pitching coach Mike Maddux said he had decided to retire after the 2022 season with the Cardinals, only to be lured back to the dugout by Bruce Bochy, the Rangers and the chance to work close to his year-round home. He was rewarded with the 2023 World Series and his first World Series ring.
- Former Cardinals bench coach and current Cincinnati manager David Bell served on the NL coaching staff.
- The NL club’s hitting coach was Joe Mather, the former Cardinals farmhand who is in his third season as Arizona’s hitting coach.
- Before the game, Helsley had his No. 56 ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals home Saturday jersey ready and signed for a jersey swap with Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott, a ºüÀêÊÓƵ native and John Burroughs High graduate.
- Entering Tuesday’s game, the American League led the all-time All-Star Game record, 47-44-2.