A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
All right. When a football or a basketball game comes down to the wire, the stars are usually out there. They're not sitting on the bench, or on the field, or on the court. Baseball, though, is different. Stars have to wait their turn. So when Shohei Ohtani towed the mound against Mike Trout in the last at bat of the World Baseball Classic's championship game last year, I mean, it was quite the moment. Here's the Fox Sports broadcast.
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JOE DAVIS: Three, two. He struck him out. Ohtani strikes out Trout, and Japan's back on top of the baseball world.
MARTÍNEZ: So what if there could be a moment like that every single game? Well, that's the idea behind a new rule being floated by Major League Baseball's commissioner. It's called the golden at bat. Former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Dan Evans is here to walk us through the pros and cons. So Dan, can you walk us through how the league is considering implementing this so-called golden at-bat rule? I mean, are we talking about once a game? How's it going to work?
DAN EVANS: A, first of all, thanks for having me on. The golden at-bat rule has been tossed around for a few years, and I think it's originating from the entertainment side of the game. There's some thoughts about you can do it at any point during the game - seventh inning or later, trailing. But then there's questions, as, you know, all baseball fans know. What about a reentry rule? What about bringing a reliever back? There's all sorts of questions. The problem is it really messes with the very order of the game, that second-grade rule that you learned about not cutting in line.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
EVANS: The game is so orderly.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
EVANS: And yet, this is one sport where order is embraced, and order has always been there. I love the entertainment element of it. I love exploring it. But I also think it's tinkering with the very fabric of the game.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, the commissioner, Rob Manfred, he floated this on a podcast in October. It kind of just stayed buried until it got some traction this week. Dan, I was open to the pitch clock. I was open to larger bases. This thing seems to, like, really shake the fundamentals of the game. I mean, this might be too far for me.
EVANS: For me, too, A, you know? And I don't think it's the traditionalist in both of us because we're both open to new things. And like you, I mean, I'm - I was all over the man on second. I love the idea of the infield shift. The pace of the game rules have been great for the fan experience. But this one just seems like a sport that's more sum of the parts. I have trouble when the haves and the have-nots are further separated by inserting a star. I think part of the magic of the game is the stars aren't always aligned so people like Bobby Thomson or Rajai Davis or Ben Zobrist come up and win a ballgame. I think that's part of what people embrace about the history of baseball.
MARTÍNEZ: Plus, a pitcher - imagine having to work twice as hard facing Shohei Ohtani in the eighth and then maybe facing him in the ninth. I mean, that's asking a lot of pitchers.
EVANS: Well, let me ask you this. Here's a question for you, A. What if Ohtani's up next? Do you get - do you have to bat - does he bat twice? If he fails, does he loses at bat the next time? I think in theory, it's fun. It's entertaining. I'd love to see it in the All-Star Game. But seeing it in the regular season or the postseason, it just doesn't work for me.
MARTÍNEZ: To answer that question, Dan, if a Dodger fan were answering that, yes, Shohei Ohtani bats twice, and he bats in every single at bat (laughter) the entire game. I think Dodger fans will be more than happy with that. So we're going to keep an eye on whether this golden at-bat idea makes its way from the boardroom all the way to the ballpark. Dan Evans, former general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Dan, thank you very much for speaking with us again.
EVANS: Thanks, A.
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