How ABS robot umpires will recalibrate Mariners baseball in 2026

Last week, MLB officially announced that the 2026 season would be the first to use the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System, often abbreviated to ABS. The leaggue has been experimenting with the technology for years, giving us sneak peeks in spring training and this year's All-Star game, but it will now become a part of the 162-game regular season.

For many fans, this comes as a big relief. Nearly everyone has a personal recollection of how a missed call turned the tide of a crucial game, and this seems like a way to finally modernize one of the most important aspects of the game. Unfortunately for the Mariners, the implementation of this system will come with some downsides.

Seattle's pitching staff will no longer be able to rely on Cal Raleigh's top-tier framing to steal strikes

When Cal Raleigh won the Platinum Glove last season, a major contributor to his defensive production was his 13 Framing Runs Above Average, eclipsed only by Patrick Bailey of the Giants. He has been good at stealing strikes ever since he debuted, which has helped his pitching staff get into more favorable counts and generally be more effective.

With the ABS system, opposing hitters will get a second chance and the final decision will be made based on where the pitch was prior to being framed. Of course, Raleigh and his pitcher will be able to do the same when calls are missed and he has demonstrated how good he is at maximizing the benefits of ABS in the past. But given how much defensive value he'll lose, it'll likely still end up being a net negative.

One could make the argument that the Mariners lineup will benefit from a more consistent strike zone, but that hasn't been a very big issue this year. Only 4.4 percent of the pitches they've seen outside the zone were incorrectly called strikes, which places them comfortably at league average. Conversely, only 13.0 percent of called balls ended up in the zone, also right around league average. In other words, the lineup will receive about as much benefit as the other 29 teams, which will hardly compensate for the defensive value they'll be losing from the catcher position.

Luckily, players can and will adapt. Unlike the aforementioned Patrick Bailey, Cal Raleigh adds value outside of just his glove and if you haven't noticed already, is having a pretty decent year at the plate. Furthermore, there are probably some ways to extract extra run value out of the ABS system that the great baseball minds from within the Mariners organization will inevitably figure out.

In the meantime, the Mariners are locked in on their impending pennant chase and Raleigh himself has much bigger fish to fry than worrying about technology that's still several months away from being added to the baseball.