The Philadelphia Phillies played for their postseason lives on Wednesday, and it took a comeback to see another day.
After falling behind 3-1 in the bottom of the 7th inning, the Phillies responded with back-to-back home runs from Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper to tie it at 3.
Then, after taking a 4-3 lead in the top of the 10th, the Phillies did something to close out the game that has never been seen before. They won on an Andrew Painter strikeout that an ABS challenge overturned.
This was the first MLB postseason game that ended on an overturned challenge, and the new challenge system was implemented for games and moments like this.
One player you have to credit for that final out is catcher J.T. Realmuto. He has been rock solid all season with the ABS challenges, and he stole an out for his pitcher to end the game.
ABS Challenge System a Success
We have not seen many people speak out against the ABS challenge system this season. Time and time again, MLB umpires have made incorrect calls, giving teams a chance to keep an at-bat alive or steal an out.
According to Underdog MLB, the Phillies became the first team to win a postseason game on an ABS overturned call.
Phillies win Game 2 on first-ever postseason game-ending ABS overturnpic.twitter.com/ep7cE24ME9
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) September 30, 2026
During the regular season, Realmuto challenged 86 calls as a catcher and got 70 of them correct. That’s an 81.4% success rate.
While Realmuto has struggled at the plate this season, his ability to know which calls to challenge adds significant value.
According to Baseball-Reference, there were 10,557 challenges, and 5,685 were overturned. That’s a 53.9% overturn rate.
It is rare to find a rule change that is universally accepted, but the ABS seems to have only improved the game.
Also, according to Baseball Reference, no team has a higher overturned percentage at catcher than the Phillies. They had a 72.7% overturned percentage during the regular season, which was 4.7% better than every other team.
The Game Continues to Evolve
One thing you can say about baseball more than other sports is how much it is willing to evolve. We have seen MLB adopt a universal DH and a pitch clock, and now they’ve added the ABS challenge system.
The umpire auditor went back through the regular season to review all the missed calls. Here is a video highlighting 10 of the worst calls that would have been strikes without ABS.
Umpires missed 24,334 calls during the regular season and had 5,684 calls overturned.
These were the 10 worst called strikeouts. pic.twitter.com/pmfTMsiLj6
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) September 29, 2026
The system’s efficiency is what makes it accepted: a tap to the helmet initiates the challenge, and it then appears on the scoreboard for all to see.
This challenge system is one of the best things the MLB has implemented in recent seasons, and the Phillies ending the game on an ABS challenge will likely be the first of many.
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