Baseball has much larger problems than the farcical ‘golden at-bat’

The proposed rule change has been met with widespread derision. But MLB has two teams in temporary homes and an avalanche of pitcher injuries

The first time I saw a mention of a baseball “golden at-bat” came on Monday. A few entries flashed on X, my spam detector dismissed them immediately and I moved on in search of my next distraction. A day later, I was back wasting life away on social media and there it was again: the “golden-at bat”. The internet had won: I did a little research.

Multiple entries described a potential rule change in Major League Baseball that would allow a team to send their preferred player to the plate, at any time, even if it wasn’t his turn to hit, once a game. I resisted asking the universe the myriad questions which sprung to mind, such as, what happens if that “golden” player is already on base? This was obviously a gag. Such a rule change wouldn’t be a slight adjustment to how the sport is played: we’re not talking about ads on uniforms or even ghost runners helping to decide extra inning slogs. A golden at-bat? That instantly transforms the game into a different code entirely, at least for me. I’m still not buying it.