Amid concern from fans about a potential competitive advantage with the new bats, an MLB spokesperson told The Athletic's Chris Kirschner that "the shape of the bat does not violate the rules." The 2025 MLB rulebook requires bats to be single pieces of solid wood no longer than 42 inches long.

Yankees play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay detailed during the game how New York redesigned its wooden bats thanks to a franchise study on shortstop Anthony Volpe's hitting patterns with the bat. " [New York] moved a lot of the wood into the label so the harder part of the bat is going to actually strike the ball," Kay explained on the broadcast.

Instead of "normal" bats, they wielded bats that were fatter on the barrel towards the label and thinned out towards the tip. They looked somewhat like bowling pins. Longtime Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay explained why they were using those bats during the YES Network broadcast and revealed the team actually custom-made those bats to improve hitting for those who tend to make contact closer to the label than the true barrel,