The Verge:

Apple and Major League Baseball have signed a multi-year deal that will see every team receive iPad Pro tablets for use in the dugout, reports The Wall Street Journal. The 12.9-inch tablets will be used with rugged, MLB-branded cases based on the one from STM pictured below, and a custom app called MLB Dugout will help managers see performance statistics, check videos from earlier games, and analyze how pitchers and hitters are likely to perform against each other.

The deal is reminiscent of the one Microsoft struck with the NFL to have Surface tablets on the sideline of each game, with one difference — iPad use is optional for MLB teams, whereas Surfaces are mandatory in the NFL.

Their use may be optional but there’s no doubt every manager in the game will eventually be seen with one of these iPads within arm’s reach in every major league dugout. Major League Baseball may be old school in a lot of ways but the increasing use of sabermetrics has changed the game.