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When the commissioner of baseball speaks, we listen. So we were listening a few weeks ago when Rob Manfred stopped by the podcast of Puck’s John Ourand and dropped this giant breadcrumb about a rule change that seems like it might be coming someday to a ballpark near you — and a mobile device even closer to you:
There are a variety of (rule change ideas) that are being talked about out there,” Manfred said. “One of them — there was a little buzz around it at an owners’ meeting — was the idea of a Golden At-Bat.”
What the heck is that? That’s what you’re thinking, right? I can help with that.
First off, it’s not to be confused with the Golden Goose, the Golden Retriever or even the Golden Arches. It won’t set you up for life, bark at the mail truck or add 1,500 calories to your digestive system in the next seven minutes.
But it is an idea that would change everything about how baseball — the ultimate team sport — has always worked. So what the heck is it? I’ve been asking that question — and others about this rule idea — for months. So let’s try to explain every golden little thing about it … not to mention how it’s likely to be received, by players, front offices and the baseball gods.
What if a team could choose one at-bat in every game to send its best hitter to the plate even if it wasn’t that guy’s turn to hit? That’s the Golden At-Bat concept in a nutshell.
How would this rule work?
For almost 150 years, the epic late-inning moments in this sport have all happened organically. So you’d be messing with some seriously embedded forces in the universe if you suddenly drop in a rule change that practically scripts them to happen. Why would the powers that be even want to go there?
All right, let’s think this through. How heart-pounding was that Soto at-bat in the ALCS that ended with a homer? How unforgettable was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Mike Trout versus Shohei Ohtani?
They made for mesmerizing baseball theater, right? So if you were designing the sport from scratch, would you want more of those moments or fewer? I won’t even answer for you. Just think about it.
But while you’re thinking, let’s go beyond baseball. If it’s the Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes is going to have the ball in his hands with 47 seconds to play. Is that a problem? Ho, ho, ho. It’s a reason — THE reason — to watch.
Or if it’s the NBA Finals, you think there’s any chance that Steph Curry … or LeBron James … or Nikola Jokić might have a chance to do something special as the clock ticks down? Oh, only every possession. Is that a problem? Let’s say no.
So why would Manfred’s sport want to mess with the baseball gods? That’s why. Why should only those other sports get to have their games decided by their biggest stars?
His sport isn’t there yet. The pros are still duking it out with the cons. The details aren’t even set in pencil, let alone in stone. But if the goal is to create moments and memories, the Golden At-Bat could be a vehicle to create more of those. So who could possibly complain?
Ha. Don’t answer that … yet!
I just know the commissioner of baseball threw this out there for all of us to ponder. So we’re pondering. And even the people who hate it are already pondering how they’d react if it actually happens someday.
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