Just over half the ball/strike challenges were successful on the first day of spring training games Friday as Major League Baseball prepared for the first regular-season use of the automated ball-strike system — the so-called robot umpires.
Thirteen of 23 calls were overturned during the five games, MLB said, which came to 56.5%.
There were an average of 4.6 challenges per game and 2.6 overturned calls per game.
Seven challenges were made of plate umpire Alex MacKay's calls during Arizona's 3-2 win over Colorado, and six were successful. The Diamondbacks had four of five decisions reversed and the Rockies were 2 for 2 in challenges.
MLB experimented with the ABS system during spring training last year and teams won 52.2% of their ball/strike challenges (617 of 1,182) challenges.
Each team has the ability to challenge two calls per game. Teams that waste their challenges get one additional challenge in each extra inning. A team retains its challenge if successful, similar to the regulations for big league teams with video reviews, which were first used for home run calls in August 2008 and widely expanded to many calls for the 2014 season.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
MLB Vice President of On-Field Strategy Joe Martinez gives a presentation about the new Automated Ball/Strike system that will be used in regular season games, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/David Brandt)
FILE - A Trackman device used for the Automated Ball/Strike System is posted on the balcony behind home plate before a spring training baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Feb. 22, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
FILE - The Automated Ball/Strike System plays on the scoreboard after a pitch call was challenged during the first inning of a spring training baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the San Diego Padres, Feb. 26, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas police say they're investigating a car that rammed into a power substation Thursday as a " terrorism-related event."
There's no ongoing threat to the public, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a news conference Friday.
Police received a 911 call at 10 a.m. Thursday reporting a vehicle crash through a secured gate at the substation in Boulder City, located approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Las Vegas, McMahill said.
The driver of the vehicle was 23-year-old Dawson Maloney from Albany, New York, who was reported missing and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, McMahill said.
The man had communicated with family before the crash, referencing self-harm, and said he was going to commit an act that would place him on the news. He referred to himself as a terrorist in a message sent to his mother, according to police.
Authorities found explosive materials and multiple books “related to extremist ideologies” in Maloney’s hotel room, McMahill said. The books included ones about right- and left-wing extremism, environmental extremism, white supremacism and anti-government ideology, he said.
“These findings significantly elevate the seriousness of this incident,” McMahill said.
Maloney is listed as a student at Albany Law School in the class of 2027. He was also an honors student for multiple semesters at Siena University, located in New York.
Two shotguns, an assault rifle-style pistol, and flame throwers were found in his rental car, McMahill said. Maloney was wearing what police described as “soft-body armor.”
Authorities recovered a 3D printer and several gun components needed to assemble a firearm from an Albany residence. Maloney had driven a rental car from Albany to Boulder City, according to Christopher Delzano, the FBI's Las Vegas special agent-in-charge.
Boulder City is a historic town and home to the Hoover Dam, which is considered one of the country’s modern civil engineering wonders. The dam provides water to millions of people and generates an average of 4 billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power each year for Nevada, Arizona and California.
The power substation that was rammed is owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The facility works closely with Hoover Dam and transfers power to the Los Angeles basin, McMahill said. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said in a statement to The Associated Press that it is aware of the incident, and there were no impacts or disruptions to its operations.
Boulder City Police Chief Timothy Shea said there is no evidence of major damage to critical infrastructure and no service disruptions.
A similar incident occurred in 2023 when a man rammed a car through a fence at a solar power facility in the desert northeast of Las Vegas, setting the car on fire. The solar power facility served Las Vegas Strip casinos. He was declared unfit for trial. That attack followed several incidents and arrests involving electrical substations in states including Washington, Oregon and North Carolina and concerns expressed by federal officials about the security of the nation’s electricity transmission network.
“We are heartbroken to hear of the tragic passing of one of our law students, Dawson Maloney, in an off-campus incident,” said Tom Torello, director of communications and marketing at Albany Law School, in a statement.
This photo provided by KTNV shows damage to a fence outside a power substation, where authorities say they are investigating a car collision, on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Boulder City, Nevada. (KTNV via AP)
This photo provided by KTNV shows a power substation, where authorities say they are investigating a car collision, on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Boulder City, Nevada. (KTNV via AP)
