The Cincinnati Reds absolutely crushed it with the new ABS challenge system in 2026, racking up a net gain of 16.8 runs on challenges to become the most successful team in its first year. That’s a huge number, especially when you look at the bottom of the pile: the Cleveland Guardians were dead last, posting a brutal minus-13.4 net runs. This system just wrapped up its inaugural season, and the full-season data, courtesy of TapToChallenge.com and the Associated Press, is throwing some serious curveballs.
The Playoff Paradox: Why Are Winners Losing Challenges?
Here’s where things get wild: a shocking eight out of the 12 playoff teams actually landed in the bottom half of MLB for challenge success, showing negative net runs totals. What?! You’d think the teams that figure out how to win would also figure out the challenges. The New York Yankees, for instance, finished a mediocre 16th with minus-2.1 runs. Even the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers struggled mightily, ranking 26th with an ugly minus-8.5. How are the best teams in the league getting this so wrong? It’s baffling to see teams at the top of the standings consistently failing to leverage a system designed to correct calls.
Big Names Are Making Big Mistakes With Challenges
When we dig into the individual players, some huge names are popping up, and not always in a good way. Shohei Ohtani was a major culprit for the Dodgers’ low rating, projected to have lost 5.5 runs on defensive challenges. That’s nearly the worst among all batters, just behind Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs. On the flip side, Jose Altuve was the king of challenges, gaining 5.6 projected runs as a hitter. And let’s shout out the catchers for a second: Patrick Bailey of the Guardians, despite his team’s overall struggles, ranked second among all catchers, preventing 5.1 projected runs with his challenges. William Contreras of the Milwaukee Brewers was just ahead of him at 5.2. These guys are making a real difference behind the plate.
The overall challenge success rates show fielders are significantly better at this, boasting a 58 percent success rate on 5,792 attempts. Hitters, meanwhile, lagged a bit at 49 percent on 4,765 challenges, per Baseball Savant. Across the board, there were 10,557 challenges, leading to 5,686 overturned calls, a 54 percent success rate overall. The Yankees and New York Mets tied for the most batting challenges won with 96 each, while the Atlanta Braves had both the fewest wins (50) and fewest total challenges (120) as a batting team. On the fielding side, the Minnesota Twins absolutely dominated, winning 157 out of 269 challenges, leading MLB. This system isn’t just a gimmick, it’s already changing games. We saw it in action when Game 2 of the NL Wild Card series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Braves ended on a successful challenge by Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto, turning an initial ball call into strike three on Dominic Smith. It doesn’t get more clutch than that.
The first year of the ABS challenge system is officially in the books, and it’s clear this thing is a game-changer. What will teams learn from these numbers and how will they adapt next season? It’s going to be fascinating to watch everyone try to get an edge.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Bleacher Report.
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