Why there are no ABS challenges in Phillies vs. Twins Field of Dreams Game

Why there are no ABS challenges in Phillies vs. Twins Field of Dreams Game originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Field of Dreams Game will be doing umpiring the old-fashioned way.

On Thursday, the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins will meet for one of MLB's most unique speciality regular-season games, competing in Dyersville, Iowa for the third-ever "Field of Dreams" inspired matchup.

But the Phillies and Twins won't have the luxury of one of MLB's shiny new rule systems for the 2026 season: Automatic Balls and Strikes (ABS).

Here's why the 2026 Field of Dreams Game will not have ABS challenges available.

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Any MLB game held at neutral or non-standard site — meaning it is not one of the 30 ballparks home to teams — does not support the ABS system. The camera tracking network and other technology ABS utilizes was only implemented in MLB's 30 home stadiums prior to the 2026 season.

So, for matchups like the 2026 Field of Dreams Game or the Little League Classic between the Braves and Brewers, ABS challenge won't be available.

For the Phillies and Twins — and any other teams that play at a non-standard site in the future — they will simply return to the "old fashioned" umpiring system, with no added crutch of overturning inaccurate ball or strike calls. The two teams were "made aware of the situation well in advance" for the Field of Dreams Game, per The Athletic.

If an umpire misses a call in the Field of Dreams Game, it will stick without review.

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MLB's Automatic Balls and Strikes System uses "Hawk-Eye" optical tracking technology, which also powers the league's "StatCast" data. Throughout each home MLB stadium, a collection of the high-frame cameras were installed — five of them track just the baseball itself. The technology tracks the velocity, spin, movement and location of each pitch, while a private 5G network provided by T-Mobile, which is a sponsor of all ABS reviews, helps transmit data.

The exact location of each pitch is then measured by each hitter's strike zone, which is 17 inches wide to match home plate, with the length measured relative to the hitter's height. ABS reports pitch locations in increments of 0.1 inches.