Cherish This World Series. It's the Last One in Human Hands (www.nytimes.com)

Savor the 2025 World Series: it will likely be the last fully human‑adjudicated championship. Major League Baseball is rolling out the Automated Ball‑Strike (A.B.S.) “robot ump” system leaguewide on Opening Day 2026. The new workflow keeps human umpires on the field but lets teams challenge ball‑strike calls — each team gets two challenges per nine innings — with the final ruling handed to the computerized system. A.B.S. has been tested since 2019, and its adoption marks a decisive shift toward automated accuracy in officiating. Technically, A.B.S. standardizes the strike zone to a player’s official MLB height (measured at spring training): the top is set at 53.5% of height and the bottom at 27%, creating a consistent zone regardless of stance. That precision promises fewer blown calls and more uniform enforcement, but it also provokes cultural and competitive concerns: players and many in the game fear losing the human judgment, variability, and memorable mistakes that shape baseball’s drama. Experts note robo‑umps are “more accurate” but not necessarily “better” for the sport’s unpredictability. The change raises practical challenges for umpires aligning human instincts with machine rulings and invites a broader debate about where automation should improve fairness — and where it might strip away what fans cherish.