MLB's New Ball-Strike System: Close Calls and Adjustments

0:00It's March 27th. This is MLB News Today, powered by AI, You're Around the Diamond Update. I'm Cory with the story. Major League Baseball kicked off the season with its new automated ball strike system, and it made a big impact right away in the Cincinnati Reds. The re-nothing lost to the Boston Red Sox. In that opener, two key calls got overturned on full counts, swinging momentum toward Boston. The trouble starter in the fourth inning, when a walk to Eugenio Suarez against Gary Crochet, flipped to a strikeout after a challenge. Then, in the ninth, Connor Phillips struck out Roman Anthony, but that two reversed to a walk, loading the bases and helping Boston score their three. Runs with singles from Trevor's story in Jaren Duran. Red's manager Terry Francona stayed positive, saying pictures need to treat these reversals, like asking for one more out and stay sharp. Red Sox's skipper Alex Cora liked his team's two out of three success on challenges, even missing one he thought they should have tried. Across the first 12 games, team's nail challenges 61.3% of the time, going 19 out of 31.

1:07Other squads like the Mets, Twins, White Sox and Rays saw high success rates too, while the Phillies used one late, despite it failing by a tenth of, an inch. As players and umps adjust to this tech, expect more close calls to keep gains exciting and force everyone to rethink their approach at the plate and on the mound.