Baseball's new Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system is already making its mark this season, emerging as an early MVP by adding a strategic layer of in-game drama. This "game-within-the-game," where managers challenge close calls, is creating clear winners, losers, and tense moments at the plate. However, this innovation appears to come with a slight tradeoff: longer games.
Through the first few weeks, the average time for a nine-inning contest has crept up to 2 hours and 42 minutes, a few minutes longer than last season. While each ABS challenge typically resolves in under 15 seconds, these mini-delays can accumulate when multiple pitches are contested throughout a game.
This minor increase is noteworthy because it chips away at one of MLB's biggest recent successes—the 2023 rules package featuring the pitch clock, which dramatically shortened games by roughly 25 minutes and was widely hailed as a win for the sport's pace. Still, it's important to keep this in perspective: today's games remain significantly shorter than the pre-clock era, which saw average times balloon to an all-time high of over three hours.
Shifting from the macro to the micro, the new season is also highlighting individual brilliance, like that of Arizona's Corbin Carroll. The two-time All-Star is off to a blazing start and has revived a classic, thrilling play: the triple. Carroll leads the majors with three triples already, continuing his reign as the league's premier three-bag hitter after pacing MLB in each of the last two seasons. His elite speed finds a perfect home in the spacious right-center alley of Chase Field, allowing him to turn would-be doubles into electrifying triples, a rarity in today's game.
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the Phillies are enjoying a luxury every team craves: a bullpen that's clicking from day one. Manager Rob Thomson recognizes his fortune in having a deep, reliable relief corps with defined roles and shutdown stuff, a foundation that includes the formidable Jhoan Duran anchoring the ninth inning. This early stability is a huge advantage as teams navigate the long grind of the season.