The day the umpires walked off and the Orioles played on

The Orioles and the Pittsburgh Pirates finished their spring training game Tuesday without umpires on the field when the clubs agreed to continue playing even though Baltimore had already lost. Normally, the game ends if the visiting team is trailing and fails to tie the score in the top of the ninth during its at-bats.

Manager Brandon Hyde said Major League Baseball informed clubs they could opt to continue games through the bottom of the ninth so another pitcher can face live batters. In this case, it was right-hander Ofreidy Gómez who took the mound to get spring training work in a simulated setting.

But the umpires left.

omg the Pirates and Orioles wanted to play a bottom of the 9th despite the Pirates leading 7-4 at home but the umpires just left after the top half thinking the game was over so now they are playing without them pic.twitter.com/kWotCYsJBZ

— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) February 28, 2023

Sources - All AAA parks to use electronic strike zone in ‘23

The challenge system seems workable.

The electronic strike zone will be used in all 30 Class AAA parks in 2023, sources told ESPN, seemingly another significant step toward the implementation of the technology at the big league level in the near future.

The Automatic Balls and Strikes system, commonly referred to as ABS, will be deployed in two different ways. Half of the Class AAA games will be played with all of the calls determined by an electronic strike zone, and the other half will be played with an ABS challenge system similar to that used in professional tennis.

Each team will be allowed three challenges per game, with teams retaining challenges in cases when they are proved correct. MLB’s intention is to use the data and feedback from both systems, over the full slate of games, to inform future choices.