"It's like putting Patrick Mahomes on the 1-yard line" - MLB analyst slams 'Golden At-Bat', citing Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout WBC duel was organic

Imagine Patrick Mahomes' Kansas City Chiefs behind by a touchdown and the league decides in such a scenario that they would have the quarterback on the 1-yard line. That seems unfair, right?

That's the analogy MLB analyst Gordon Wittenmyer drew up while discussing the latest "Golden At-Bat Rule" introduced by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred at an owners meeting earlier this week.

According to the "Golden At-Bat Rule," teams will be once allowed to send their best hitter up at any point in the game even if he's not due. For example: even if Aaron Judge isn't in line to come in to bat third in the ninth inning, Aaron Boone could implement this rule and get Judge on the plate if the game is on the line.

Wittenmyer, on David Kaplan's "The Rekap" podcast on Wednesday, sounded critical of the potential upcoming rule (which is still at a conversational stage), highlighting how it impacts the game's randomness and that if implemented, the game would no longer stay organic.

"Do I like the idea? No. Because here’s the thing: you mess with the way the game is played," Wittenmyer said (12:45 onwards). "You mess with the rules of the game in a very fundamental way, and then it still doesn’t work most of the time. And when it does, then what?

"Look at the World Baseball Classic. It came down to the U.S. versus Japan, and the last game was one of the most-watched and most interesting," Wittenmyer added.

"It came down to a 3-2 game, Shohei Ohtani against Mike Trout, with the game on the line, two outs in the ninth. That was phenomenal, great theater. The fact that it happened organically, because that’s how baseball is set up, is what made it so amazing."

To make his point even clearer, Wittenmyer took the analogy of football.

"It’s not like putting the game in Patrick Mahomes’ hands down the stretch. It’s like putting Patrick Mahomes on the one-yard line every game when he’s down by a touchdown. No. Just play the game. That’s the way I see it," Wittenmyer added.

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Gordon Wittenmyer says organic nature of the game shouldn't be tempered with

There are over 150 years of baseball legacy that could be tempered with if the "Golden At-Bat Rule" comes into the picture. Gordon Wittenmyer said that bringing this rule would temper with the way the game is played, taking away the randomness associated with the sport.

"Imagine you’re sitting there watching, and here comes Aaron Judge in Game 7 with the bases loaded," Wittenmyer said. "Yeah, that’s theater. But what do we love about sports?

"It’s the randomness, the unpredictability, the things we’ve never seen before that make us jump out of our seats. The athleticism, the awe-inspiring moments. If you manipulate that, if you create those moments artificially, it’s not the same."

Baseball analysts continue to debate around this rule. While most of them are against it, some believe that it's not all bad, given the game of baseball needs juice, so this would be one way of delivering it.