Tuesday, March 24

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Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today’s edition is brought to you by David Adler.

The season starts tomorrow. And that means: ABS is here. This is everything you need to know about baseball’s ball-strike challenge system.

When the Yankees face the Giants on Opening Night tomorrow (8 p.m. ET, Netflix), you’re going to see Major League players challenging ball and strike calls in a regular-season game for the very first time. And you’re probably going to have questions. 

That’s where we come in. MLB.com has a ton of resources for fans to learn the ins and outs of MLB’s new Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System, powered by T-Mobile. 

Here’s your full guide to ABS before Opening Day: 

Everything you need to know about the ABS challenge system 

First things first, here’s a complete breakdownof how the ABS system will work this season, with an FAQ that has all the most important info, brought to you by MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince.

ABS challenge dashboard

Over at Baseball Savant, we have all the ABS challenge stats you could ask for. This is the main page where you’ll be able to find all of the MLB challenge leaders once the season starts — who’s challenging the most, who’s winning the most challenges, what the overturn rates look like for all of MLB and much, much more. 

Statcast ABS leaderboard

If the basic challenge win-loss stats aren’t enough for you, we’re going to have a whole bunch more in-depth Statcast challenge stats. On this page, if you click on any player’s section, you can pull up a breakdown of all of that player’s challenges, including a strike zone chart of all the pitch locations.  

What does all the ABS challenge data mean? 

We got a full year of ABS data from the 2025 Triple-A season to get ready for 2026 in MLB. MLB.com’s Mike Petriello lays out the key takeaways to help you understand all that data. (We also have a breakdown of the most interesting players on the ABS leaderboard.)

Takeaways from ABS at Spring Training 

This is a follow-up after seeing big league players get to test out the ABS challenge system themselves at Spring Training. Do the same takeaways from 2025 at Triple-A still hold true?

The lessons players have already learned about ABS 

Now that they’ve tested out ABS this spring, what do the Major League players themselves think? Here are the lessons they’ve learned so far. 

MLB player poll: Who’ll be the best at ABS challenges?

One of the biggest questions surrounding ABS is simply, which players will be good at it? So we asked around. Here’s what MLB players are predicting. (Sneak peek: They all think Juan Soto will be good.)

How players get measured for their ABS strike zone

Players’ strike zones are defined differently now for ABS games (based strictly on their standing height, not their batting stance). Here’s how they get measured to determine their zone.

 

 

LET THE KIDS PLAY ON OPENING DAY

We’re always on Prospect Watch in the days leading up to Opening Day. And boy do we have a Big Three who are coming to The Show this week.

Tigers shortstop Kevin McGonigle (MLB Pipeline’s No. 2 overall prospect), Cardinals infielder JJ Wetherholt (No. 5 overall) and Mets outfielder Carson Benge (No. 16 overall) are all set to make their MLB debuts.  

News broke yesterday that Benge and Wetherholt had made their first Opening Day rosters, and we finally just got word today that McGonigle will be joining them.  

The 21-year-old McGonigle is one of the best pure hitting prospects this decade. If he’s in the lineup on Opening Day, he’ll be Detroit’s youngest player to start on Opening Day in over 20 years, and one of a handful of Tigers to do so at age 21 or younger, a list that includes Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Al Kaline, Alan Trammell and Harry Heilmann.  

Benge will be the Mets’ Opening Day right fielder. The 23-year-old had the opportunity to win the starting job at Spring Training, and he seized it, batting .366 in 14 games. 

The 23-year-old Wetherholt was widely expected to be St. Louis’ starting second baseman to open the year, and now he’ll get that chance. Wetherholt is seen as a potential .300 hitter and 20-20 threat in the bigs. 

LET CUTCH PLAY, TOO

Opening Day 2026 won’t just be for the young stars. Guess who’s back for another year? None other than Cutch. 

Andrew McCutchen, who signed with the Rangers just a few weeks ago, has made the team’s Opening Day roster.

The 39-year-old former MVP is back for an 18th season in the Majors. The only active players with more years under their belt are Justin Verlander (entering his 21st season) and Max Scherzer (19th). 

PCA CLOSING IN ON LONG-TERM DEAL

The Cubs are closing in on an extension with rising superstar Pete Crow-Armstrong, sources have told MLB.com, which would keep one of MLB’s most exciting young players in Chicago for the long haul. 

Cubs beat reporter Jordan Bastian has all the details on PCA’s extension talks.

Crow-Armstrong broke out in a big way last season, posting his first 30-30 season with 31 home runs and 35 stolen bases while winning his first Gold Glove Award as one of the most elite center fielders in baseball. 

PCA, who will turn 24 tomorrow — just before Cubs Opening Day on Thursday — is already a fan favorite in Chicago, and sure acts the part of a future face of the franchise. He and the Cubs have lofty expectations for 2026 … and beyond. 

FROM POSTSEASON DEBUT TO 2026 BREAKOUT?

Here’s one other phenom we want to make sure we highlight before the season starts. He’s technically already made his MLB debut, but he’s about to play his first Opening Day. 

That’s the Guardians’ Chase DeLauter, who last October became one of the rare players to make his MLB debut in the postseason. DeLauter is now MLB Pipeline’s No. 46 overall prospect, he’s won Cleveland’s starting right-field job, and he looks like a future star after a red-hot spring.

The 24-year-old crushed two more home runs yesterday — including a 448-foot blast to dead center — and even before that, we had DeLauter on our list of the 2026 Spring Training stat lines that matter thanks to his elite combination of a high hard-hit rate and low swing-and-miss rate.

Now, he’s got teammates saying things like, “That guy is so good, it’s insane.” Watch out for DeLauter this season. 

9-9-9 CHALLENGE AT A STADIUM NEAR YOU

More and more MLB teams are getting in on one of baseball’s most viral ballpark quests.

You know the “9-9-9 challenge” — go to a baseball game, eat nine hot dogs and drink nine beers in nine innings. 

That’s a lot to wolf down. Luckily, for fans who want to try it, six different MLB ballparks are now offering their own “lite” version at concession stands. 

The Phillies, Mets, Rockies, Astros, Royals and Giants will all have a 9-9-9 challenge combo at their home games this season: nine mini hot dogs and nine flight-sized beers in custom team packaging. 

The 9-9-9 challenge boxes will be available to fans 21 and up with a valid ID. 

Oh, and this was all designed in collaboration with hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut, of course. 

DAILY WALKOFF

Put your baseball brain to the test with Daily Walkoff, where you can find 30 brand-new trivia puzzles every day, one for each team. Play Daily Walkoff >> 

 

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