Baseball, apparently, has lost its mind and quite possibly its conscience.
All in a rather brazen attempt to make the game better, more interesting, more exciting, more full of moments, less real. Having more scripted moments, more like WWE and less like the almost perfect sport it was before its leaders began stripping away at the fabric of the games with so many additional rules and alterations.
There is enough wrong with baseball right now with pitching clocks and instant replay, with analytics and pitch counts, with shifting and not shifting, with rules on how many batters a relief pitcher can face, and how wide the bases may be.
But what’s happening now — in thought and over time, in possibility — makes you wish you could turn the clock back to a time when baseball was simpler and maybe more beautiful.
When you didn’t need to place a runner on second base in extra innings — a rule stolen from international softball — so that the game would end quicker or more offence would occur unnaturally.
You may or may not have heard about the apparent Golden Rule that is being talked about from baseball’s tallest foreheads these days. Here’s what’s being discussed by the commissioner, Rob Manfred, and by those around him: They are talking about changing the game from what it has ever been. They are talking about altering the fabric of the sport and by that, making a change that seems so ridiculous that it might actually be possible by those now in charge.
This is how the Golden Rule might work if it ever is instituted. Once in the game — possibly twice, this is still being debated — a team would be allowed to alter its batting order to allow someone to hit in a spot in the lineup that isn’t his.
In other words, you could lead off the ninth inning with Vladimir Guerrero hitting a double to left field. And then, under this rule, have Guerrero go back to the plate and see if he couldn’t knock himself home from second base.
This is something between T-ball and senior men’s slow pitch. It may for the little kids and the older kids — but not for the best players in the world.
Think of the most recent post-season, with incredible moments of excitement, especially from the Cleveland Guardians-New York Yankees series, and you want to change that?
You want to alter baseball after 150 years of doing things one way? All in the name of what? Fake drama.
What they’re talking about would tinker with the essence of baseball. The game is already unpredictable. You want to lose the spontaneity? You want Juan Soto or Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani hitting first and second in an inning? This is like a video game.
Baseball is great in spite of itself, in spite who keeps trying to make it something it’s not.
Because is great because of its history. Because we can link Ted Williams to Hank Aaron to Barry Bonds on steroids to Judge and Ohtani, all of them playing under mostly the same rules.
More than any other sport, baseball is an ongoing conversation. It’s all about how and why and who and when and where — and they do it all again tomorrow.
That’s why the best sporting movies and the sporting books and the best sports writing is always done on baseball. It’s closer to sporting poetry than any of its counterparts.
Forcing a Golden Rule on the game is blasphemy of sorts. It has to be offensive to purists and maybe even to those who aren’t. You can’t change batting orders now or ever.
You can’t do that and call it progress.
BLUE JAYS TIDBITS
Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins met with the Toronto chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America yesterday, as he does every year at this time, and talked about the upcoming winter with his usual blind enthusiasm. He admitted, as has been reported everywhere, that the Blue Jays have made a pitch to free agent Juan Soto, but out of respect for Soto and respect for agent Scott Boras, he would say little more than that. He did say: “There’s still a great deal of opportunity for us. We feel confident of making our team better.” … Atkins also said, while not disclosing budget numbers: “We don’t have unlimited resources, but we have the potential to make our team better with free agency and trades.” … Atkins did admit the Blue Jays attempted to keep pitcher Jordan Romano before letting him walk and will attempt to sign him now. It’s clear the Jays offered Romano a pay cut to stay with the team, but Romano chose not to accept it. Atkins did say he had no questions about Romano’s health for the coming season. “We remain interested in him and will be heavily pursuing his return,” said Atkins … What did Atkins learn from the failed attempt to get Shohei Ohtani last year? “All positive things from the (Ohtani negotiations). We’re a destination, we’re an attractive market for (free agents). We’re better at presenting that (now) and better at trying to execute that.” … When asked about paying deferred dollars to free agents, the way the Dodgers did with Ohtani last year and pitcher Blake Snell this year, and how that work for the Jays, Atkins said: “That’s a better question for the CEO or CFO of Rogers.” He didn’t say when the CEO or CFO of Rogers would be answering questions … Atkins was asked about whether Vladimir Guerrero Jr. would have to be signed beyond next season to attract free agents looking for stability? His answer: “That’s hard to project.” … In unrelated news, Atkins did say that centre fielder Daulton Varsho is unlikely to be ready to start the season after undergoing shoulder surgery.