Imagine this; the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers are heading toward their final out, and with the bottom of the lineup at the plate, Shohei Ohtani won’t be up for quite some time… or will he?
Good, Major League Baseball floats the idea of a new quirk where Ohtani, already in the lineup, could show up sooner than he should.
Commissioner Rob Manfred said further Podcast “The Varsity”. In October, league owners shared “a bit of buzz” about the “Golden At-Bat” rule, and it appears to be gaining some traction heading into the Winter Meetings.
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Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. speaks during the 2024 Grapefruit League Spring Training Media Day at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Thursday, February 15, 2024 in Tampa, Florida. (Mike Carlson/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
So, what is it?
Each team only gets one chance to basically bring in anyone they want.
Let’s say the Dodgers are on a run and heading to their final out, Miguel Rojas is on the bat, Chris Taylor is on deck and Ohtani is in the hole.
Well, Dave Roberts can use his Golden At-Bat to land the National League MVP (maybe the New York Yankees with Alex Verdugo and Juan Soto is a better example, as anyone can hit on the Dodgers).
The Athletics reported that there are several variations floating around, including using it only after the seventh inning or using it only in the ninth.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. speaks to the media during the Spring Training Cactus League Media Day at the Arizona Biltmore on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, in Phoenix. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
SHOHEI OHTANI SEEKS $325,000 IN BASEBALL CARDS FROM HIS EX-INTERPRETER
Nevertheless, it might be the most significant rule change the game has seen in recent years.
Ahead of the 2023 season, MLB introduced larger bases, a pitch timer, restrictive shifts, and a “disengagement” rule where pitchers were only allowed to make three pickoff attempts, but the third failed would result in the runner going up 100 feet.
While baseball purists may be disgusted once again, it’s hard to argue that the rule changes have been negative for baseball.
The average nine-inning game in the 2024 regular season lasted two hours and 36 minutes, the lowest since 1984, and no, it’s not less baseball; it’s less downtime in the game. There were also 3,617 stolen bases this season, the most since 1915.
MLB parlayed that into the highest attendance since 2017, despite stadium-wide prices being higher than ever.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred speaks during a press conference following negotiations with the players’ association on a labor agreement on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
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So while the purists may not like it, it clearly works, and it would be much more fun to watch Bobby Witt at the plate in place of Kyle Isbel in the ninth – maybe even twice!
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