World peace may not hang in the balance, but in the world of baseball, umpire accuracy has gotten noticeably worse in recent years. It’s a relief to know that beginning next year, Major League Baseball will institute a new automatic balls and strikes challenge system (ABS) that can be used by pitchers, catchers and batters to promptly overturn egregious calls (“ Robot umpires are coming to MLB. Phew. ” Sept. 24).

Notwithstanding the trite catch phrase that umpiring is a tough job, there have been too many instances when bad calls have tipped the balance at a critical moment in a game. It’s good to know there will be a backup system in place to provide a remedy.

— John R. Leopold, Stoney Beach

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