go to bat for

1. Take the side of, support, defend. For example, Dad will always go to bat for his kids. This term originated in baseball, where it means simply substituting for another batter, but it is the idea of helping one's team in this way that has been transferred to more general use. [Slang; early 1900s]

Example Sentences

Most job seekers don’t have someone like Fife to go to bat for them—not until they get through an initial screening, anyway.

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He was also a loyal Starmer foot soldier, always happy to go to bat for the leadership in a way he was notably not during the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

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The issue put Redstone and some high-level executives at odds with journalists, who expressed dismay that the company did not appear willing to go to bat for one of the network’s premier brands.

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Favata was a “fundamentally decent and caring person at his core who made a tremendous mistake,” Garvey wrote, and added that he was grateful to “go to bat” for his friend.

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Yes, Philadelphians and Pennsylvanians will almost always go to bat for one their own—one of the big upsides for Harris if she chose Shapiro.

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