The MLB could get robot umpires by 2024

America’s national pastime may be getting a huge upgrade in 2024 to make the sport less boring. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred recently spoke with ESPN and during the interview, Manfred made it clear that robot umpires are coming.

Essentially, Manfred (and many others) believe baseball is too slow. Everything crawls at a snail’s pace and games go on for hours longer than they need to.

While one part of the speed-up equation could be to introduce pitch clocks, another focuses on what happens once the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand.

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That’s where the robot umpires come into play. There are basically two different directions these robo-umps could take. One would be to monitor every pitch and transmit the results to the home plate umpire.

The other option is actually being tested in the minor leagues right now. It involves replays and lets each coach challenge a certain number of pitches per game. According to the MLB, this new system is helping shave an average of nine minutes off per game.

Manfred says that the technology is there, it’s more about convincing players, teams, and fans that it is the right direction. He also makes it clear that introducing robot umpires isn’t meant to single out umpires for poor calls.

It will be interesting to see how fans take to robots controlling a major aspect of the Major League. Officiating is a hot topic in sports.

For decades, players and fans have used what they consider “bad calls” to justify why their team lost. Could robots fix this toxic aspect of sports?

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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