Major League Baseball has cleared the way for the return of in-game video on dugout iPads beginning on Opening Day.

For decades, players retreated to a clubhouse video room to check out their at-bats or take a closer look at a pitcher entering a game.

The Houston Astros were penalized in January 2020 for an electronic sign-stealing scheme during their run to the 2017 World Series title and again in the 2018 season. The coronavirus pandemic also led baseball to limit clubhouse access.

"It definitely made it a little more difficult for hitters," David Dahl said. "You can't go back and look at where was that pitch, how are they throwing me, what my timing looked like, little things like that that I checked out in the past."

The prohibition of in-game video access coincided with a .245 MLB batting average during the shortest regular season since 1878, the lowest since .237 in 1968 and down from .252 in 2019.