Can Technology Make the Right Call?
It’s the bottom of the ninth inning, the bases are loaded, and the count is full. The pitcher delivers a fastball that appears to catch the outside corner of the strike zone. The catcher holds the ball in position, the umpire calls a strike, and the batter immediately challenges the decision.
Within seconds, a digital representation of the pitch appears on the stadium scoreboard. Cameras have tracked the ball’s movement, software has calculated its location, and the results reveal whether the original call was correct.
For baseball fans, it’s an exciting moment that could change the outcome of a game. For scientists and engineers, it’s a fascinating example of how geometry, measurement, technology, and human judgment interact.
Major League Baseball introduced its Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System for the 2026 season, allowing players to challenge certain ball-and-strike calls using camera-based tracking technology. The system has created new conversations about accuracy and fairness while providing educators with an opportunity to connect classroom STEM concepts to a sport students recognize.
At STEM Sports®, we believe some of the most meaningful learning experiences begin when students recognize science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in their everyday interests. Sports provide a familiar environment where students can investigate academic concepts through active experimentation rather than simply reading about them.
Automated officiating offers another opportunity to make that connection. Students can explore the mathematics behind a strike zone, investigate the limitations of human observation, compare measurements, and use evidence to make decisions. Along the way, they’ll discover that making the right call often requires more than simply looking at what happened.
The 2026 MLB Postseason Brings Measurement Science Into the Spotlight
The 2026 MLB postseason is providing an especially relevant example of technology and human judgment working together.
According to the Associated Press, players successfully challenged 71 of 121 calls during the Wild Card and Division Series, resulting in a 59% success rate. That represented an increase from the 54% success rate recorded during the regular season. Batters also became more successful in the postseason, winning 57% of their challenges compared with 49% during the regular season.
Those statistics raise an interesting question for students: What makes a decision accurate?
Before automated technology, baseball umpires relied primarily on their training, experience, positioning, and ability to observe a pitch traveling at extraordinary speeds. Although umpires are skilled professionals, making precise judgments about a fast-moving object presents significant challenges.
The ABS system approaches the problem differently. MLB uses Hawk-Eye technology with 12 cameras positioned around each ballpark to track the baseball and determine its location relative to a defined strike zone. The technology doesn’t replace the umpire during normal play. Instead, it provides a measurement-based review when an eligible player challenges a call.
For educators, this creates an opportunity to introduce students to the relationship between observation and evidence. Human judgment remains important, but technology can provide additional information that helps evaluate decisions.
It also introduces a foundational scientific principle: A conclusion becomes stronger when it can be supported by consistent, measurable evidence.
Understanding the Geometry of a Strike Zone
One of the most interesting aspects of MLB’s automated system is that the strike zone is defined mathematically.
The ABS system uses a two-dimensional rectangular strike zone positioned at the midpoint of home plate. The rectangle is 17 inches wide, matching the width of home plate, while its vertical dimensions depend on the batter’s measured height.
Under MLB’s 2026 specifications, the top of the automated strike zone is located at 53.5% of the batter’s height, while the bottom is located at 27%. The system evaluates the ball’s position as it crosses the middle of home plate.
That means the strike zone changes according to the height of the person standing at the plate.
For students, this transforms a familiar part of baseball into a lesson involving percentages, ratios, measurement, and geometry. Instead of simply asking whether a pitch appears high or low, students can calculate the precise dimensions of a fictional strike zone and use those measurements to evaluate pitches.
Consider a hypothetical batter who is 60 inches tall. The top of that batter’s automated strike zone would be 32.1 inches above the ground, while the bottom would be 16.2 inches above the ground. The resulting strike-zone height would be 15.9 inches.
Students can use these calculations to investigate how changing a batter’s height changes the strike zone, while the 17-inch width remains constant.
Classroom Investigation 1: Build Your Own Strike Zone
Recommended grades: 3–8
STEM focus: Geometry, percentages, measurement, proportional reasoning
Begin by dividing students into small teams and providing rulers, measuring tapes, graph paper, and cardboard or poster board. Give each team the height of a fictional baseball player and ask students to calculate the corresponding strike-zone dimensions using MLB’s automated system.
Younger students can work with teacher-provided dimensions and create scaled drawings of different rectangular strike zones. Older students can calculate the upper and lower boundaries themselves, determine the resulting area, and compare how strike zones change for players of different heights.
Once students have their measurements, have them create physical models of the strike zones using tape or paper. They can place the models side by side to visualize how the dimensions change and explain the mathematical relationships they observe.
To extend the activity, ask students whether two batters of different heights should have identical strike zones. Their responses can lead to a discussion about how mathematical rules create consistency while accounting for differences between individuals.
Why Measurement Accuracy Matters
Students often learn how to measure length, distance, and height without considering how measurement uncertainty can influence a decision.
Sports officiating provides an opportunity to explore that challenge.
Consider a baseball passing extremely close to the edge of the strike zone. A difference of a fraction of an inch could determine whether the pitch is ruled a ball or strike. When the result affects a game, the quality of the measurement becomes especially important.
Even advanced measurement systems have limitations. Cameras need to be positioned and calibrated correctly, software must identify the object being tracked, and the system must translate observations into meaningful measurements.
MLB has reported that its ABS tracking technology has a margin of error of approximately one-sixth of an inch. Although that’s a small distance, it reinforces an important scientific concept: measurements can be highly precise without being perfectly exact.
Students can investigate this relationship through a simple classroom experiment. By comparing repeated measurements from different people and tools, they can discover why engineers and scientists establish consistent procedures when accuracy matters.
Classroom Investigation 2: Make the Call
Recommended grades: 3–8
STEM focus: Measurement, spatial reasoning, accuracy, data collection
Create a scaled strike-zone model on a sheet of poster board or a classroom whiteboard. Place paper circles representing baseballs at different locations near the strike-zone boundaries.
Ask students to determine whether each position represents a ball or strike. Initially, students should make their decisions using visual observation alone.
Next, provide measuring tools so students can evaluate the actual position of each baseball relative to the boundaries. For this simplified model, explain that a pitch touching the edge of the zone counts as a strike.
Students can compare their initial decisions with their measurements and record how often the two methods produce different results.
Older students can calculate the percentage of calls they identified correctly and investigate whether errors occur more frequently near the strike-zone boundaries.
After completing several trials, lead a discussion about the difference between accuracy and precision. Students should understand that measurements can be consistently repeated without necessarily matching the correct value, and that careful measurement procedures help reduce errors.
The activity also provides an opportunity to introduce the idea of measurement uncertainty. Rather than expecting every observation to be perfectly exact, students learn to recognize the limitations of their tools and make decisions using the best available evidence.
How Cameras and Sensors Help Officials See More
Camera technology has transformed how professional sports organizations analyze movement and evaluate close calls.
In baseball, the ABS system uses cameras to determine the location of a moving ball relative to the strike zone. Similar technologies are used in other sports to track objects, evaluate boundaries, and provide information that may be difficult for a human official to observe in real time.
Soccer offers another familiar example. Goal-line technology helps determine whether a ball has completely crossed the goal line, while tennis uses electronic line-calling technology to evaluate where balls land.
Although each sport has different rules and technological requirements, the underlying STEM concepts are similar. Engineers must develop systems that gather information, measure locations, and translate those measurements into decisions.
These systems introduce students to sensors, cameras, coordinate systems, computer science, and data analysis. They also demonstrate that technology is often most useful when it addresses a specific challenge rather than simply replacing an existing process.
For K–8 educators, students don’t need access to expensive camera systems to explore these concepts. Simple photographs, measuring tools, and classroom models can demonstrate how information changes depending on the observer’s perspective.
Classroom Investigation 3: Does Your Viewing Angle Matter?
Recommended grades: 4–8
STEM focus: Observation, perspective, experimental design, error analysis
Place a ball or small object at a fixed location near a marked boundary on the classroom floor. Ask students to observe the object from several designated positions, including directly above, from the side, and from an angle.
Students should record whether the object appears to cross the boundary from each perspective. Encourage them to explain how confident they are in their observations before moving to another viewing position.
Next, use a ruler or measuring tape to determine the object’s actual position relative to the boundary. Compare that result with the observations students recorded from different perspectives.
If classroom technology is available, students can photograph the object from each position and compare the images. This can introduce the idea of parallax, where an object’s apparent position changes because of the observer’s viewing angle.
Ask students to consider how camera placement might influence an automated measurement system. Why would engineers use multiple cameras? How could viewing an object from different perspectives provide more complete information?
These discussions help students understand that technology doesn’t eliminate the need for careful scientific planning. Sensors and cameras must still be positioned, calibrated, and evaluated to produce useful information.
Turning Close Calls Into Data Literacy Lessons
One of the most valuable classroom connections from the 2026 MLB postseason involves statistics.
The reported 59% postseason challenge success rate provides students with real-world data they can analyze. However, interpreting that number correctly requires more than calculating a percentage.
A successful challenge means that a player requested a review and the original call was overturned. It doesn’t mean that 59% of all pitches were incorrectly called. Only a relatively small number of calls are challenged, and players generally choose to challenge calls they believe may be incorrect.
That distinction introduces students to selection bias, a concept that becomes increasingly important as students learn to interpret statistics.
If students assume that every challenged pitch represents every pitch thrown during a baseball game, they may reach misleading conclusions. Understanding where data comes from is just as important as calculating the results.
This creates an opportunity to teach mathematical reasoning alongside scientific literacy.
Classroom Investigation 4: Analyze the Challenge Data
Recommended grades: 5–8
STEM focus: Percentages, probability, data interpretation, critical thinking
Provide students with the following simplified dataset based on the reported early 2026 postseason results:
Measurement | Result |
Total challenges | 121 |
Successful challenges | 71 |
Unsuccessful challenges | 50 |
Challenge success rate | Approximately 59% |
Regular-season success rate | Approximately 54% |
Ask students to calculate the success rate independently and compare their results with the reported percentage. They can create bar graphs, calculate the difference between the postseason and regular-season rates, and discuss what the results suggest.
Next, introduce a fictional scenario in which a team has only a limited number of opportunities to challenge calls.
Should players challenge every close call, or should they save their opportunities for situations when the outcome could have a greater effect on the game?
Students can explore how data influences decision-making and why professional athletes must sometimes balance confidence, probability, and strategy.
The most important lesson is that statistics provide information, but students still need context to interpret what the numbers mean.
Fairness Is Also an Engineering Challenge
Sports technology often introduces questions that extend beyond whether the equipment works correctly.
For example, if an automated system uses the same strike-zone dimensions for every batter, taller and shorter players could experience very different conditions. On the other hand, changing the dimensions for each player requires engineers to create consistent rules for how those adjustments are calculated.
The ABS system addresses this through measurements tied to each batter’s height. That design decision reflects an attempt to use objective criteria while accommodating differences between players.
Students can explore similar challenges in their own engineering investigations.
What makes a rule fair? Should everyone be evaluated using identical measurements, or should measurements change based on certain characteristics? How can technology apply rules consistently while accounting for individual differences?
These questions encourage students to think about engineering as more than building devices or writing software. Successful systems must also consider how people interact with technology and whether the decisions it produces are appropriate for the intended purpose.
For curriculum leaders, this creates opportunities to connect STEM instruction with critical thinking, communication, and responsible technology use.
Bringing Officiating Science Into the STEM Sports Classroom
The science behind sports officiating connects naturally to several existing STEM Sports® curriculum offerings, particularly those focused on baseball, softball, soccer, and measurement.
STEM Baseball provides an ideal starting point. Its curriculum includes lessons exploring the field of play, pitching, engineering a pitching machine, and advancements in baseball. These modules introduce students to the physical and mathematical concepts behind the game, creating an opportunity to extend learning into the geometry and technology of strike-zone decisions.
STEM Softball offers an even more direct connection through its “Is it a Ball or Strike?” module. Students can build on that lesson by investigating how measurement, observation, and technology influence officiating decisions. The curriculum also explores the field of play, forces, and technological advancements in softball.
STEM Soccer provides another opportunity through its goal-line technology module. Students can compare how baseball and soccer use technology to evaluate close calls, while investigating the different geometric and measurement challenges involved in each sport.
These connections reflect the inquiry-based approach at the center of STEM Sports. Our curriculum uses the 5E instructional model, with an additional Extend phase, to encourage students to engage with a problem, explore possibilities, explain their findings, elaborate on their understanding, and evaluate results.
Educators can use officiating technology as a standalone classroom investigation or build it into a larger project involving measurement, engineering, mathematical modeling, and data analysis.
Why Real-World STEM Connections Matter
The experiences of STEM Sports educators reinforce the importance of connecting academic concepts to familiar situations.
At Choice Learning Academy in Arizona, sixth-grade science teacher Amy Rosengren uses STEM Basketball to help students understand concepts such as energy, motion, and temperature. One of her students’ favorite investigations explores how temperature affects basketball behavior, a particularly relevant example given Arizona’s climate.
Rosengren describes STEM Sports as a springboard for additional investigations, helping students recognize connections between classroom science and their everyday experiences. Her students have also pursued further STEM enrichment opportunities after participating in sports-based lessons.
Sandra Hayes has observed similar engagement at F.K. White Middle School in Louisiana. Her students participate in hands-on STEM Sports activities involving soccer, hockey, lacrosse, and other sports. She reports that students become so invested in their investigations that they’re disappointed when class ends, and some have gone on to explore robotics programs.
Lisa Longino has also seen sports-based learning strengthen the relationship between physical education and traditional academic subjects in East Cleveland. Through her STEM in the Neuronasium initiative, students explore scientific concepts such as velocity, force, trajectory, and physiology while participating in physical activity. Longino reports improvements in engagement and describes how students carry concepts learned in physical education into later science and mathematics discussions.
These experiences demonstrate why sports officiating can become a meaningful STEM learning opportunity. Students don’t need to be baseball experts or aspiring athletes to participate. They simply need a question worth investigating and an opportunity to explore the answer.
When students use geometry to determine whether a pitch crosses the strike zone or collect data to evaluate the accuracy of their observations, they’re practicing the same scientific and mathematical thinking used in professional sports technology.
The STEM Careers Behind Every Close Call
The increasing use of technology in sports officiating also introduces students to careers they may never have considered.
Computer vision engineers develop systems that interpret images and video. Software developers create programs that process information and display results. Data scientists analyze large amounts of information, while mechanical and electrical engineers help develop the equipment that makes sophisticated measurement possible.
Other professionals specialize in mathematics, physics, optical engineering, quality testing, and human-computer interaction. Each contributes to the systems that sports organizations use to track movement, evaluate performance, and make decisions.
The STEM Sports ebook emphasizes that students who love sports have many career opportunities beyond becoming professional athletes. The games they enjoy depend on professionals who understand how technology, mathematics, science, and engineering work together.
For students who enjoy solving puzzles, working with technology, or investigating how things work, sports officiating provides an example of how those interests could connect to a future career.
The Right Call Starts With the Right Questions
Sports officials have always faced difficult decisions. What has changed is the amount of information available to help evaluate those decisions.
Modern camera systems, measurement tools, and mathematical models make it possible to analyze sporting events with increasing precision. Yet those technologies still depend on scientific principles, thoughtful engineering, and careful interpretation of data.
For K–8 students, the classroom connections are substantial. A strike zone becomes a geometry investigation, a close call becomes a measurement challenge, and an officiating decision becomes an opportunity to analyze evidence.
Students learn to ask whether their measurements are accurate, whether their observations are reliable, and whether the available data supports their conclusions. They discover that technology can provide valuable information, but meaningful decisions still require critical thinking.
Most importantly, they begin to recognize that STEM exists in places they may never have considered.
The next time a baseball player challenges a close call or a soccer official reviews whether a ball crossed the goal line, students may see something different.
They won’t simply see a referee making a decision.
They’ll see geometry, measurement, engineering, data, and technology working together.
And with STEM Sports®, that moment can become the beginning of an entirely new learning experience.