What to know about robot umpires, automated ball-strike testing, challenges at 2025 MLB spring training Cactus League, Grapefruit League games.

This year's MLB spring training could prove more consequential than any in years past as MLB will experiment with ABS, the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System, to ensure the home plate umpire gets as many ball and strike calls correct as possible. On Thursday, the league announced how exactly this new challenge system will unfold.

ABS is MLB’s name for an automated strike zone — also known as robot umps. In a full ABS game, there will be a human umpire behind the plate, signaling the calls communicated through ABS. We won’t be seeing that full system in action this spring. Instead, teams will have a limited amount of challenges.

Given their looming trip to Japan, the Dodgers and Cubs are working under a different Spring Training schedule than the rest of baseball. That is why the clubs are taking the field at Camelback Ranch on Thursday afternoon,

The Los Angeles Dodgers kick off their Cactus League campaign on Thursday. Here's everything you need to know.

The Los Angeles Dodgers begin their Cactus League schedule on Thursday with a matchup against the Chicago Cubs at Camelback Ranch. The Dodgers lineup should consist of several regulars, but Shohei Ohtani won’t be among them.