During the 2026 Serie del Rey, Liga Mexicana de Béisbol president Horacio De la Vega sat down with Marcelo ‘Chelo’ Canto of ESPN México and put two of the league’s most-debated topics right on the table: the schedule and the electronic strike zone. His message on both was straightforward — the LMB liked what it saw in 2026 and wants more of it.
More North vs. South: From 93 Games to Possibly 98
De la Vega didn’t commit to a specific number of added interzone matchups, but the direction is clear. «Beyond the calendar itself, the intention is to have more interzone games in 2027,» he told Canto on September 11, 2026.
The schedule context matters. The LMB runs 20 clubs split between the Zona Norte and Zona Sur, and the calendar has been creeping upward since the pandemic: 90 games per team in 2022 and 2023, then 93 starting in 2024. Now the league is weighing a jump to 97 or 98 games for 2027 — four or five additional games per organization, according to Infobae. For reference, the last time the LMB played a 120-game season was 2019, so there’s still plenty of room before returning to those numbers.
To build the new schedule, the league is working with a U.S.-based company that uses artificial intelligence to optimize flight routes, costs, and cross-zone rivalries. A final decision is expected before the November 2026 Owners Assembly — nothing is signed yet. One thing De la Vega made explicit: franchise expansion (new teams) is off the table for 2027. What’s being evaluated is strictly schedule growth.
The Robot Ump: From Experiment to Fixture
On the ABS (Automated Ball-Strike System), De la Vega was direct: «I’m very happy with the results — we’ll see it back next year.»
The numbers back up his optimism. The system uses Trackman radar installed in every stadium and operates at a declared accuracy rate of 99.5%. It calibrates the strike zone to each individual batter’s height and relays the call to the home plate umpire via radio communication in milliseconds.
The LMB rolled it out in two phases during 2026:
- Pilot phase: May 22 – July 2 (one home series and one road series per team)
- Full rollout: On July 6, the Owners Assembly voted to extend ABS to all regular-season games for the remainder of 2026
That vote made the Liga Mexicana the first professional league in the Americas to use a robot umpire system in regular-season play — ahead of any winter league and ahead of U.S. minor league baseball in permanent format. De la Vega had flagged that milestone when the pilot launched in May; the season’s results only reinforced it.
One thing still unconfirmed: whether ABS will operate during the 2026 Serie del Rey. The July announcements limited the system to the regular season, and no separate postseason announcement has been made.
What to Watch Before November
Both signals from De la Vega — more interzone games and ABS returning — share the same fine print: they’re still intentions. His language was conditional on both counts, and the November Owners Assembly is where intentions become official policy.
What is clear is that the league heads into that meeting with two experiments it genuinely liked: a schedule that grew from 90 to 93 games without friction, and an electronic strike zone that players and fans accepted better than expected. Four or five more games per team, with heavier North-South crossover, is the bet that the 2027 season will feel meaningfully different from the last four.
