Robot Umps Shake Up MLB: Longer Games, More Strikes

0:00It's May 2nd, MLB News. Today's starts now, AI-powered and game-ready. I'm Corey with the story. Major League Baseball just wrapped its first full month with robot umpires calling balls and strikes, and the changes are shaking things up. Walks jump 7.3%, because pitches in the strike zone dropped to 47.3%, the lowest in years. Teams now average 5 minutes longer at 2 hours and 42 minutes, while attendance rose 2.8% and batting averages ticked up. 1.2243, pitches crossing the plates midpoint, defined strikes now, adjusted for batter height instead of the old rulebook zone. Challenges to calls have succeeded, 53.4% of the time, overall, with catchers nailing it at 60% compared to hitters. At 46%. Team team's edge out batters on appeals, thanks to those catcher views. Teams and managers see this as expected, like what happened in the minors, and they're already tweaking strategies.

1:01Cubs present in Jet Hoyer says it's on them to adjust, and Oriol Skipper Craig Alvinaz notes it's the first real clear strike zone ever. Umpires are stepping up their game too. With top accuracy around 95% to dodge those challenge embarrassments, strikeouts crept up slightly to 16.9 per game, scoring rose to 9 runs from 8.7, but stolen bases fell to 1.4. Per game with a 76.6% success rate, pitch quad violations ticked higher just a bit, mostly on defense, as walks dip lately in everyone adepts. Keep eyes on how this robot error reshapes the pace and power of play heading into summer.