MLB Bans AI on Dugout iPads; Mets Were Main Offender
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- MLB disabled custom tabs on dugout iPads starting Wednesday—the first day of the second half—prohibiting AI use for strategy decisions, per a June 11 memo from EVP of baseball operations Morgan Sword.
- Adam Ottavino said on his YouTube livestream "Baseball & Coffee" that the Mets were the "main team that got cracked down on," with owner Steve Cohen reportedly spending several hundred thousand dollars on an AI program that helped coaches pick pitches.
- The custom tab had expanded iPad use "beyond their originally intended purpose" to include substitution recommendations and pitch calling—decisions "traditionally made by players and coaches," per the memo, first reported by The Athletic and obtained by AP.
- MLB's competition committee found clubs had been compliant with existing regulations, and the mid-season timing was designed to give teams "appropriate lead-time to make any necessary adjustments," Sword wrote.
- Aaron Judge said he couldn't believe what he was seeing: "Teams are making decisions off of AI? Man, that's just crazy," while Toronto's John Schneider called real-time sway over decisions "a little weird."
- Arizona manager Torey Lovullo acknowledged AI is "entering everyone's arena" and warned: "You better get on it, or you're going to get rolled over by it."
- The dugout iPad program launched as a 2015 pilot and was expanded in 2016 under a deal with Apple; video was eliminated during the 2020 pandemic-shortened season after the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal, then returned in 2021.
Why it matters: MLB's mid-season prohibition forces teams that built AI pitch-calling workflows—reportedly costing hundreds of thousands of dollars—to scrap or rework them before the second half. The policy entrenches human authority over substitutions and pitch selection, giving traditional managers and coaches veto power over algorithmic recommendations at a moment when front offices are racing to adopt AI.
