After Major League Baseball and the MLBPA couldn’t agree to a season length during their long-running, contentious negotiations, MLB decided to impose a 60-game schedule last week. In an ideal world for the players, they’d have gotten at least 80-some games (they proposed 89 on June 9), but commissioner Rob Manfred told Dan Patrick of Fox Sports Radio on Wednesday that the league never intended to play more than 60 games this season as a result of the “unpredictable” and “unmanageable” coronavirus pandemic, per Bradford William Davis of the New York Daily News.
“The reality is we weren’t going to play more than 60 games no matter how the negotiations with the players went,” said Manfred.
Manfred’s revelation surely won’t go over well with the Tony Clark-led union, which accused the league of negotiating in bad faith throughout the sides’ stalemate (MLB did the same to the MLBPA during the process). The union could file a grievance in response to Manfred’s comments, as its March agreement with the league said MLB would have to make a real effort to play as many games as possible this year. It’s unclear whether that will happen. Regardless, the commissioner’s statement could also further rile up the union enough for the two parties to have more difficulty coming to a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement when the current pact expires after the 2021 season.
Manfred went on to admit to Patrick that negotiations on a 2020 season produced “a sub-optimal result” (via R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports). And interestingly, Manfred added that “fans won’t get an expanded postseason.” Last week, Clark seemed willing to discuss a playoff pool consisting of more than 10 teams, but it appears Manfred has closed the book on that possibility.
dalrob
I no longer care
krillin89
Why are you on this site then?
Eminor3rd
Probably to see trade rumors?
krillin89
Then he cares
racosun
He cares so hard.
thatdudetg
He cares so so SO hard!
Eminor3rd
Labor negotiations are different than trade rumors though
Dom2
Happy to get Baseball back but just imagine what the 21-22 offseason will look like.
Simonmike
What both offseasons?
BKS1110
I think he means “the off-season that will take place from roughly November 2021 through March 2022.”
ukpadre
I’m sure it’s more likely he means the offseason that will take place from roughly November 2021 to March 2023…
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
Kris Bryant
Javy Baez
Kyle Schwarber
Anthony Rizzo
Just on the Cubs are free agents. Pending extensions
PutPeteRoseInTheHall
As a Giants fan, an expanded playoff wouldn’t be the worst thing
2020WorldChampions
Geez, Stop the Madness. The Giants aren’t going to the postsesason. Expanded post season / 60 games doesn’t matter. This is one of the worst rosters in MLB. You sound like a homer fool
gogiantsyanks
Sounds like someone didn’t see what Farhan did with the dodgers in 2015-16
rightyspecialist
only fans of beater teams , like the Giants, want extended playoffs. They believe in this ridiculous notion that the short 60 game season will some way magically catapult their talentless teams into the postseason
jleve618
I can dream. Phillies would have won the NL east after 60 games last year.
wild bill tetley
Easy to do well when the Dodgers payroll was $300-plus million.
puigpower
Whoops! Do your homework.
Psychguy
Not money alone. Friedman has engineered some excellent trades some of which have been quite complicated resulting in their envious depth. My only complaint about Friedman is his inability to shore up the pen. BTW, it’s important to recognize that Friedman prefers to keep his young controllable assets rather than engage in knee jerk trading.
bkbk
When the Rockies play. the Marlins for the right to play the Angels in the world series in October, all you confident dunces will learn the consequences of small sample sizes.
raisinsss
But the Mets would have won it if you only looked at the 60 game stretch preceding the playoffs…
wild bill tetley
As of Aug 7, 2015 and after the trade deadline, the LA Dodgers payroll exceeded $300-million dollars, according to Business Insider. I’ll let you look it up if you know how to use a computer.
I cannot believe you tried to step with a fact. I CAN believe you’d fail and screw it up. I know you’re upset as you needed to post back-to-back posts, and you failed both.
Good effort. I’m not always right but boy are you consistently wrong!
lowtalker1
They’d still miss it as the teams in SoCal play in oct
sherlock_
Giants have no shot in a 22 team playoff
yankees500
If the players truly cared about the safety of Their family and loved ones like they say they would have wanted a shorter season. They only wanted a long season so they could get paid more. More games=higher chance of being infected
Simonmike
You are not.the authority to define if someone cares about anything. Especially considering you don’t make a dime from this game
Roll
how do you know he doesnt make a dime from this game? I made about 5gs in fantasy football last year and legal sport betting.
Maybe he had a bet the season wouldnt happen. then he would be making money off that as he was in favor of the players staying home or a very small amount of games.
ukpadre
How do you know that he doesn’t know that he doesn’t know that?
saluelthpops
@simon, however, he is the authority on his own opinion, which is what a comment section is for. Get off your high horse and quit being a d-bag.
drtymike0509
Or they wanted to get paid a fair rate for their services and maximize their value. As we have seen players are free to opt out and many have already. Not every players family dynamic is the same…
oldoak33
If the players cared about the safety of their family and loved ones, they wouldn’t have played a season at all.
Just like you wouldn’t drive with a loved one in the car if you truly cared about their safety, or let them drink alcohol, swim in a pool, fly on an airplane, smoke cigarettes, eat fatty foods or sugary drinks.
The players knew they were playing a shortened season. What was the threshold for their caring? 72 games? Nope. 68 games? 65? Nope
Ahh 60, the perfect amount of caring.
DarkSide830
that’s their choice, not yours.
bjtheduck
I’m just happy there won’t be expanded playoffs after all. Now about that new extra innings rule…
terry g
Awesome negotiator there. Start off by shooting yourself in the foot or the next time and go from there.
bravos14
I’d love to play poker against this guy. As a side note, I’m become quite good at poker during this pandemic.
ReverieDays
Fans don’t want an extended playoff, you dolt.
DarkSide830
i dont know about that. i think its much more popular then the other new rules and would be particularly popular among morw casual fans of borderline teams. i liked the idea in a short year, because we might see a good team or two miss they playoffs with one bad stretch, but extra playoff teams protects against that.
jeffmaz
Hard to argue with him. It is up to the owners to keep the players safe and the fact is fewer games = fewer chances to get infected. I was (am) dubious on the ability for them to make it through even 60 games but eff it, play ball! I need a distraction.
DirtbagBlues
In fairness, every indication was that the owner’s preferred a short season so as to cut their losses. There’s never been mention of owner concern for player safety being the driving force.
prov356
Jeff – “It is up to the owners to keep the players safe”
Respectfully, Jeff, it’s up to every individual to keep themselves safe. If a player, or any human for that matter, is high risk or can’t avoid being around someone who is high risk, then behave accordingly. I know personal responsibility is an old fashioned notion, but it really is still a thing.
Endersgame
I believe that Jeff’s comment is that as the employers, it is up to the owners to do what they can to help keep players safe. Kind of similar to how many jobs were telling employees for years that their job could not be done from home, but now are insisting that the employees work from home to help keep everyone safe.
There absolutely is a need for individuals to be safe and make decisions to keep themselves safe. But is there also not a need for employers (in this case, the owners) to do what they can to help keep employees safe?
prov356
I agree game – if that’s the flavor of what Jeff was saying. There is such a lack of personal responsibility today that I just scratch my head and wonder how people deal with day to day stuff, let alone important issues. Cheers.
bjhaas1977
Manford is the worst thing to happen to baseball since the Black Sox
baseball1010
Manfred like Selig is a liar
8ManLineupNoPitcherNoDH
Manfred is much worse than Manford
Steve9955
Manfred is as impotent a Commissioner as there is in sports today. What a feckless leader. Almost makes me long for the days of Bowie Kuhn and Hypocrite Selig.
ukpadre
I actually rejoiced when Selig finally stepped down, so it takes one heck of a terrible guy to make me long for the days where he was in charge again. But alas, here we are.
jb226
Whether it is true or not, it’s absolutely brain dead to say out loud.
ukpadre
Have you not met Manfred?!
stymeedone
The agreement was that they would try to play the most games possible. The owners may firmly believe that under these conditions, 60 is the most possible. It is a different opinion than the players union, but not necessarily one that will lose a grevience.
dandan
I’m thoroughly convinced Rob Manfred has absolutely no idea how to do his job.
Before anyone says it, I’m well aware that I couldn’t do any better, but I also haven’t been in this profession for years.
A'sfaninLondonUK
@dandan…
Have confidence in yourself, you’d be fine. On day one you sit down and think to yourself, “What would Manfred do?” Then try to do the polar opposite.
Day two – repeat as above….
dandan
Lmao that’s the first and only chapter in “Major League Baseball Commissioner for Dummies”
dmarcus15
The worst commissioner ever!
JtS12
If Manfred is truly disappointed in not having an expanded postseason then why isn’t he willing to negotiate it with the Union? Easy answer. He is lying and trying to make a PR move yet again to try and show fans that it is the players fault there is less baseball.
gwell55
I think this is his negotiation tactic right now. Think about this, the players get no share to speak of right now due to no fans in stand (a percent of the gate receipts). So if they play in playoffs now nothing or if they want to have expanded playoff a percent of the revenue. Well Clark what is it going to be? Manfred is trying to get the union to understand if they want a cut they need to negotiate.
Dorothy_Mantooth
The reason they are not agreeing to expanded playoffs is that the MLBPA wanted 50% of the television revenue for 2020 & 2021 in order to accept the playoff expansion. Since most owners depend on that playoff broadcast revenue to turn a profit, there was no way owners were going to give up 50% of that $1B+ to the players.
It will be interesting to see if/how playoff players get any type of bonus this year as owners had previously split the gate receipts 50/50 with the players to fund their bonuses. With no fans in the stands, where will the playoff shares come from?
gwell55
They get playoff shares as the CBA states “from the gate” so if there are fans they get that percent, if there are no fans they get nothing from the playoff shares that seems to me would cause the players to negotiate or get nothing more than that feeling of being a winner or is that going to be a whiner. After all they could of accepted the last offer with playoff revenue share stated in it from TV. They will negotiate now I believe.
JtS12
I agree with you guys. The players will negotiate. They were better off under the old leadership structure of the MLBPA with Michael Weiner before his unfortunate passing. Back then they negotiated. Clark on the other hand wants to go toe to toe with Manfred. After the lack of spending in previous offseasons on mid-level veterans, the PA has been backed into a corner with Clark. He failed to negotiate anything that would help make the FA market more friendly so now to show he can stand up to the owners/Manfred he decided he could not give in to Manfred this time. That is what it all boiled down to was that Clark lost many negotiations and we ended up with this situation since he won’t give in now. And that is now affecting everything including playoff negotiating.
Patrick OKennedy
The players’ final proposal was for a 50% split of only the expanded playoff TV revenue and only in 2021. In 2020, the players would get a $50 million playoff pool. The value of what the players asked for was about $50M- ish. And it was a throw in.
They could still agree on a swap of expanded playoffs this season for a playoff pool for the players. If they’re on speaking terms.
Sadler
I don’t see MLB playing 60 games this year, if any at all. With the speed that infections are increasing right now; its not hard to imagine half the league in quarantine a month from now.
prov356
Fear mongering through speculation…priceless.
Halo11Fan
The speculation is on both sides. And it certainly isn’t fear mongering to believe this will spread rapidly around clubhouses.
Sadler
How is my statement fear mongering? Nearly half the states have already paused or begun reversing their reopening plans. New York now has a mandatory 14 day quarantine for travelers arriving from nearly 20 states. None of that is because things are getting better.
Speculation? Sure, but virtually every statement about the future is speculation, including the idea of a 60 game season.
Rangers29
Really Rob? This is like when restaurant owners burn down their restaurant for insurance money, and then when the fire is almost out and the building is down, they pour more gasoline on it resulting in burning the building next to it unintentionally. He didn’t need to go out and say this! Thanks, Rob!
30 Parks
Can’t someone tell Manfred to shut up? He got his Mickey Mouse season, now shut up. I can’t stand Manfred – tone deaf.
wild bill tetley
Manfred is all about the money. He will do whatever is necessary to make an extra buck. That is how and why he became Commissioner in the first place. He is not a baseball man in the traditional sense. He’s a money maker. That’s good enough for the league.
toooldtocare
You’re right Wild Bill, and also many of the GMs are not true baseball men either.
wild bill tetley
Yep, thanks to the Moneyball explosion I would agree.
We’re seeing the same thing in basketball with Adam Silver bowing to China while his top players hypocritically last out at the United States. China is a big money maker for the NBA and they will not disrupt that money train rolling in.
When you have baseball men at the helm, the game is great. When you have money men at the helm, things go a bit sideways. This commissioner and the previous one forget that the game equals money, not the other way around.
Patrick OKennedy
You got that right, wild bill. It’s gotten so that only the richest of the rich can run and own a baseball team, and they have been driven by chasing the cash their entire lives. They don’t know how to turn it off, even for the sake of the game. For them, the money chase IS the game, and Manfred is their boy.
At the same time, players hire agents who do the same thing. Just get me as much money as I can get while the cash is flowing. At least most players really love the game- or at least they love to play it. But in no way are they partners with the owners that run the league. I don’t like the CBA talks that are on the horizon at all.
wild bill tetley
No question Patrick. The rule changes over the last 5-6 years have reflected that, and Manfred’s influence goes back to Selig’s last couple seasons.
To his credit he’s done a good job with regard to added revenue. However, he’s walking into a dangerous territory with the tinkering. And, you are right with the CBA. What has transpired the last two months is child’s play compared to what’s upcoming.
prov356
Hmmm. I’m not necessarily a fan of Manfred but I go to work every day for the money too.
wild bill tetley
Don’t we all?
Product over money or money over product? At some point the tinkering of the product might backfire.
kodion
Is the only time Manfred sounds like he might be aware of his surroundings when the owners put words in his mouth? While they probably gave him a 60-game guideline, they wouldn’t have wanted that expressed publicly, I’m sure
whyhayzee
When they play this schedule, I hope they play all the games with two opponents in one location consecutively. You can do it with 4 game series against the same division from the other league and two 5 game series with the teams in your own league and division. You just need to swap home teams when you play the other league. Minimize travel. If they ask.
shortytallz
Why does Clownfred ever talk to the media?
tigerdoc616
Not sure why Manfred would give the MLBPA any fuel for that grievance the owners were afraid of. Can he be that stupid? Or is he just baiting the players?
DarkSide830
whatever. fact is we have games coming. that’s all that matters now.
DarkSide830
i really do think Manfred gets a bit too much flak from people that dont understand how the game works, but the fact is just him being there still doesnt look good on the game. the owners should swallow their pride and eat his remaining contract to get at leasta fresh looking face up front.
Patrick OKennedy
If Manfred wasn’t going to play more than 60 games, then why did he propose 82 games, or 72 games in two different proposals? He was limited in how much money the owners would pay in player salaries, and was not going to play “as many games as possible” which is what they were required to do by the agreement that they made. This is why there will be a grievance.
Now they are headed for playoffs where the players will not be paid at all because their pay is tied to gate receipts. Good luck with that one.
Oddball Hererra
The exact wording was ‘economically feasible” not ‘possible’. Extremely different implications
Patrick OKennedy
This is the exact language
MLB will propose a schedule “using best efforts to play as many games as possible, while taking into account player safety and health, rescheduling needs, competitive considerations, stadium availability, and the economic feasibility of various alternatives.”
Manfred proposed 82 games, 72 games and finally 60 games only after conceding that teams had to pay the players prorated salaries.
Bill Skiles
Hey Bobby, keep your mouth shut Mr. Comish, you’re making it worse.
.
socalbum
I do not see how Manfred can negotiate a renewal CBA — ever. Why would union leadership, or the members trust him to negotiate in good faith?
Enrico Pallazzo
Rob Manfred is such a piece of garbage. Obviously hates baseball. How has he not been fired already?
Daver520
Manfred is ONLY there for the paycheck and to implement backyard rules to ruin America’s pastime as we know it !
tominco
Can I file a grievance?
Oddball Hererra
Even 60 games is a hope and a prayer, much less 90 plus expanded playoffs, so in that sense Manfred was totally correct.
Vizionaire
not if they agree to 81 games in april or may. they’d have a half the season played already. manfraud and some owners did dirty dancing by themselves.
Halo11Fan
Did anyone really think this season was going to be more than 60 games?
If you did, you need a reality check.
Vizionaire
i did and do.
whirlybird
Our commissioner is an idiot. It’s like he wants a strike at this point.
HalosHeavenJJ
Dude just said every proposal going back and forth was a waste of time because he already knew what was going to happen.
What an idiot.
jim stem
Just because there might be a schedule doesn’t mean there will be a season.
States are beginning to quarantine travelers from other states for two weeks. If an exception is made for an entire traveling baseball organizations and all its personnel, it’s just a travesty. If it’s safe for some, it’s safe for all and by now, we should all realize that travel in and out of heavily populated areas, airports and interstate highways presents the absolute greatest risk. (Along with bars, nightclubs, restaurants, etc.)
Every owner and baseball decision maker should be required to travel the entire season WITH the teams into the highest risk areas.
jim stem
Let’s see:
-Mexican League canceled.
-Minor League canceled.
-States beginning mandatory 2 week quarantines for travelers.
-States rolling back openings.
-Pennsylvania and California now require mandatory facemasks in public and in buildings when distancing cannot be maintained.
-Canada essentially closed to the USA
…what makes major league baseball personnel immune?
Gigorilla
Wow, just wow….so many soyboys here today, this looks like a crappy facebook page.
troll
y’all getting worked up for nothing. no way there’s a 60 game season. cancel it and go home.
some251guy
Manfred sucks