Picture this; the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers are down to their final out, and with the bottom of the lineup at the plate, Shohei Ohtani is not due up for quite some time… or is he? Major League Baseball is floating the idea of a new quirk where Ohtani, already in the lineup, may come up earlier than he is supposed to.
Commissioner Rob Manfred revealed on “The Varsity” podcast in October that league owners have shared “a little buzz” about the “Golden At-Bat” rule, and it seems to be gaining some traction ahead of the Winter Meetings. Each team would get just one chance to bring up whoever they want to the plate, regardless of their position in the batting order.
For example, if the Dodgers are down a run and down to their final out, Miguel Rojas is up, Chris Taylor is on deck, and Ohtani is in the hole, manager Dave Roberts could use his Golden At-Bat to bring in the National League MVP. There are variations being floated, including only using it past the seventh inning or only using it in the ninth.
This would be the most significant rule change the game has seen in recent years, according to MLB. Ahead of the 2023 season, MLB introduced larger bases, a pitch timer, limiting shifts, and a “disengagement” rule where pitchers would only be allowed three attempted pickoffs, but the third failed one would result in the runner moving up 90 feet.
Despite purists being disgusted, the rule changes have been a positive for baseball, with the average nine-inning game in the 2024 regular season being the lowest since 1984, and no, it is not less baseball; it is less downtime in the game. There were also 3,617 stolen bases this season, the most since 1915.
MLB has parlayed that into its highest attendance since 2017, despite higher prices throughout the ballparks.