FORT MYERS, Fla. – When spring training games begin at the end of the week, so too will a new era of Major League Baseball, one in which teams will finally have the power to correct umpires’ mistakes.

The Automatic Ball-Strike system, also known as ABS or ‘robot umps’ in the vernacular, is here at last.

Teams will have two challenges per game, to be used by the pitcher, catcher, or hitter. Successful challenges are retained. Teams that are out of challenges when a game goes into extra innings are allotted one challenge per inning.

Around the league, reviews on the impending change are mixed, based on reasons ranging from strike zone measurements, to game strategy, to rollout.

Some teams are entering this new era with a head start. Several members of the Red Sox felt it was unfair that last spring training, ABS was installed only in 13 Grapefruit and Cactus League ballparks shared by 19 home teams, and the technology was only in use for 60% of all preseason games.

On average, Grapefruit League teams had 19 ABS games on their 2025 schedules, while Cactus League teams had 21. More than 50% of teams were slated for upwards of 20 ABS games.

But on a team-by-team basis, there were significant discrepancies. The Arizona Diamondbacks’ ‘25 preseason included a league-leading 29 ABS games, the Chicago Cubs’ only had seven. The Red Sox’s 10 ABS games last year were tied for third-fewest, just ahead of the Cubs and Atlanta Braves (8). Teams also typically send non-roster invitee and minor league-heavy groups on the road at the beginning of the schedule, which meant even fewer opportunities for everyday big leaguers.

Even this year, the spring training structure presents a problem. Particularly in concert with the upcoming World Baseball Classic, which will take over a dozen Red Sox major and minor leaguers out of camp for anywhere from a few days to two weeks next month.

“The hard part of this, you only get two in exhibition games, and as you know, the first part of the spring, (big leaguers) play three innings,” manager Alex Cora said. “We want the big-leaguers to have a chance to test it, right? And we might be very aggressive in the first third of the game here, because we want those guys to have experience with it.”

The Red Sox also began ABS meetings last week, though the expectation is that preparation will only get them so far. The system will be a learning curve and adjustment for everyone.

“We’re not in the business of begging for pitches,” Cora said. “We have to get it right, and there’s a method, and there’s strategy with it, you know?

“Shame on us if we don’t have a challenge late in the game. Or two of them, right? Because that’s when, kind of like, the game changes, right? And games are decided most likely in that last third of the game. … We have to learn. We didn’t have too much experience with it. We didn’t have it last year in spring training. Obviously some guys in Triple-A, they did (last season), and we’re trying to get feedback. But it’s a work in progress.

“I think the analytics department is doing an amazing job putting presentations and explaining to us how it works. And hopefully we’re in the top tier of challenges, that we get it right.”

It’s not hyperbolic to suggest that most ballplayers’ careers included a missed call so egregious it still irks them. The 2025 Red Sox threw 23,629 pitches, according to StatHead. At least one of those pitches, from Walker Buehler’s May 20 start and ejection, for example, would have been a successful challenge.

Just don’t expect the challenge requests to come from the men throwing the ball. Earlier this week, former Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale told reporters at Braves camp he will never challenge a pitch. The Red Sox aren’t explicitly barring their pitchers from challenging, but they’ve informed players the onus falls on the catchers (and hitters).

“It seems like the catchers have the higher percentage of correct challenges, so most likely we’ll keep it like that,” Cora said. “But Chris, I mean, that’s him. I was like, thank you, kid. Appreciate you. I almost put that video (Saturday) in the ABS presentation.”

At the end of spring training last year, MLB revealed that pitchers’ challenges were only successful 41% of the time, while catchers had a 56% overturn rate.

On the whole ABS should serve as the long-awaited power to correct the occasional mistake. Yet the variables it introduces and highlights are fascinating. Will players be able to maintain a level head as pressure mounts in later innings? It figures that we’ll see some challenges born out of pure desperation to turn the tide in one’s team’s favor, and games that are won or lost by this new factor.

“It’s something that’s going to be new for all of us,” Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey told the Herald. “And understanding that there’s an emotional component to this, right? It’s a very finite thing.

“It’s either a ball or a strike, and there’s no in-between.”