March 26, 2026 / 4:53 AM EDT / CBS/AP
San Francisco — New York infielder José Caballero thought Logan Webb’s pitch had missed the zone, so he challenged the human umpire’s call — and became part of baseball history.
Caballero lost the first challenge taken under Major League Baseball’s new Automated Ball-Strike System, unsuccessfully appealing a called strike by the San Francisco right-hander during Wednesday night’s season opener that the Yankees won, 7-0.
“Nope, I wanted to go for it,” Caballero said after the game.
Webb began the fourth inning with a 90.7 mph sinker on the upper, inner corner that was ruled a strike by veteran umpire Bill Miller, who has been in the majors since 1997. Caballero tapped his helmet, and the ABS — using 12 Hawk-Eye cameras — upheld Miller’s decision in a graphic displayed on the Oracle Park scoreboard.
“I thought it was a little higher than what it showed,” Caballero added. “I think it’s really good, keep everyone accountable. It gives us a chance to really see how good (we are) with the zone or not. I wish it was the other way around, I’m trying to get the overturn call but this time I didn’t.”
New York led 5-0 at the time. Caballero drove in the game’s first run with an RBI single during a five-run second inning off Webb, who recorded his 1,000th career strikeout in the fourth.
The automated system has been tested in the minor leagues since 2019 and was used in major league spring training in 2025 and 2026. Some managers say they’ll still find ways to argue and get ejected.
CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa noted that the next pitch was another called strike that appeared even farther out of the zone, but Caballero declined to challenge it — unwilling to waste New York’s two allotted challenges on consecutive pitches. “There’s plenty of strategy with these challenges. Teams won’t just challenge anything they think went against them. The game situation is important,” Axisa wrote.
Before the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone expressed support for ABS and emphasized discussing challenge strategy with his players. “I’ve tried to be real direct with them and why,” he said. “I feel like we’re going to be good at it, that’s the expectation. I’m sure we’ll continue to evolve with it.”
New Giants manager Tony Vitello, who arrived from the University of Tennessee without pro playing or coaching experience, admitted he briefly panicked when he saw headlines about a robot umpire. “‘I’ve got to be honest with you, one thing I was looking at is who are the umpires tonight?’ he said. ‘You get on Google (and) the first thing you see is there’s going to be a robot umpire. And it was only for a millisecond but I kind of freaked out.'”
Photo: New York Yankees shortstop José Caballero, left, celebrates with second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. after the game in San Francisco on March 25, 2026. (Jeff Chiu / AP)
In: Major League Baseball