NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball is limiting iPad use in the dugouts to prevent the tablets from running artificial intelligence to make strategic decisions, and former reliever Adam Ottavino said the New York Mets’ use of technology contributed to the move.
The tablets have access to video and league-provided data and also feature a custom tab that allows teams to access other programming. MLB made the custom tabs inaccessible to teams starting Wednesday night as the second half of the season began.
“In many cases, the custom tab had expanded the use of the dugout iPads beyond their original intended purpose to include recommendations regarding substitutions, pitch calling and other in-game decisions traditionally made by players and coaches,” Morgan Sword, MLB’s executive vice president of baseball operations, wrote in a June 11 memo to general managers, assistant GMs and video coordinators.
The memo, first reported by The Athletic, was obtained by The Associated Press.
Table of Contents
Editor’s Tips
1 relative
“I read the article and thought, I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “Teams making decisions using AI? Man, that’s just crazy.”
Ottavino said on his “Baseball & Coffee” YouTube livestream that the Mets have used AI, citing team owner Steve Cohen’s spending on the software. Ottavino was a pitcher for the Mets from 2022 to 2024 and is now an anchor on the Yankees’ YES Network.
“The Mets were actually the team, the main team, that was cracked down on,” Ottavino said. “They had an AI program that was apparently very expensive, and they bragged about it a little bit earlier this year. Some of the coaches I know were talking about it from around the league, and they basically had an AI program that helped them pick pitches and, I think, some other things.”
“But MLB got wind of it and nipped it in the bud right away, so apparently they weren’t the only team, but I knew about it from the Mets’ perspective,” he said. “They tried to throw some money at the situation. Steve made sure of that – I think that program, from what I’ve heard, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
When asked if they had an answer, the Mets did not comment.
Former reliever Adam Ottavino, who played for the Mets from 2022 to 2024 and is now a YES Network broadcaster, said on his livestream that the Mets’ use of AI contributed to MLB’s crackdown on using the technology for in-game strategies. The team did not comment. Paul Sancya/AP
A review by the Competition Committee found that the clubs had complied with the regulations.
“The introduction of this ban from the second half of the season is intended to give clubs that have relied on the custom tab a reasonable lead time to make any necessary adjustments,” Sword wrote.
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider called it “a little strange to see the whole report about it, where you can do things in almost real time that can influence your decision one way or another.”
“I think the biggest thing is calling out pitches and seeing how that can evolve in real time using technology,” he said.
MLB launched a pilot program allowing iPad use in dugouts with restrictions late in the 2015 season and expanded use in 2016 under a deal with Apple. The video was removed during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season following the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal and returned in 2021.
“It hasn’t affected us at all, but I know for sure that AI is coming to our area,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “It’s invading everyone’s arena. You’d better get involved with it or you’ll be overwhelmed by it.”
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/49385415/mlb-restricts-dugout-ipad-use-prevent-artificial-intelligence-game-decision-making
