Rob Manfred is considering the dumbest rule change that would ruin baseball forever

I did not think the bar could have gone any lower in the big four North American professional sports leagues than NFL commissioner Roger Goodell having the audacity to say the Super Bowl should be played internationally in the lead-up to Presidents' Day, but MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is taking his pickaxe and driving it into the mantle of the very fabric of what makes baseball America's pastime.

Jayson Stark of The Athletic wrote about the idea of The Golden At-Bat Rule, one where a team can call any player at any time to bat in a ballgame. The notion is that it could be used in late-game situations, but why in the hell would you consider this an idea breathing any life into? I understand Manfred's other changes to the game have helped baseball in some ways, but this fireable crapola.

This would be like Gary Bettman instituting that the NHL's Stadium Series phenomenon be implemented throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs across the United States and Canada. Yes, you could sell more seats, but good luck keeping the ice from melting at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa or at SoFi Stadium outside of Greater Los Angeles in the early part of the summer. Just stupid.

Manfred needs to take this idea and camp out at the Tampa Bay Rays' ruined stadium for a season.

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The Golden At-Bat Rule would be the worst thing to ever happen to MLB

Admittedly, I may be more of a traditionalist when it comes to baseball, but I understand the way the game and the world are going. I hated the idea of implementing the designated hitter in both leagues. But after COVID, and realizing this would create 15 more high-paying jobs for the MLBPA to negotiate, I eventually came around to it, just like the extra-innings ghost runners during the regular season.

What I cannot get behind is that this would violate one of baseball's most sacred rules: Don't bat out of order, you stooge doofus buffoon in the rain! We don't need to reward stupidity anymore on this planet, let alone in the most rigid sport of all time, Major League Baseball. What happens if the manager implementing The Golden At-Bat Rule messes up? Will he get pelted with batteries or soap?

For a sport that alienated its fans over the 1994-95 MLB Strike, the unchecked Steroid Era that followed it, or the inability to actually connect with fans in a dying cable market for the sake of a streaming revolution, Manfred and whoever wants to see The Golden At-Bat Rule implemented should go kick the MLB commissioner's piece of metal trophy until their feet bleed and fall off.

If this rule is ever implemented, I don't think I can watch another MLB game for the rest of my life.