A week after saying “we are going to play Major League Baseball this year,” commissioner Rob Manfred on Monday told ESPN he’s “not confident” there will be a season.
In a conversation with Mike Greenberg for ESPN’s “The Return of Sports” special, Manfred said that “as long as there’s no dialogue” with the Players Association, “that real risk is going to continue.”
Last week Manfred said the chances of a shortened season, due to the coronavirus, were “100%.”
On Monday, the tune was different.
“I’m not confident,” he said. “I think there’s real risk.
“It’s just a disaster for our game, absolutely no question about it. It shouldn’t be happening, and it’s important that we find a way to get past it and get the game back on the field for the benefit of our fans.”
Disaster indeed. Weeks ago, baseball was positioned to be the first major North American sport to return after it was shut down during spring training. The expectation was that a shortened season, perhaps 50 games, would commence in early July after a three-week ‘spring training.’
Now, for the first time, no baseball at all has become a possibility, Manfred said.
Manfred said the players association’s “decision to end good-faith negotiations” and the need for an agreement with the union on health-and-safety protocols “were really negative in terms of our efforts.”
“The owners are a hundred percent committed to getting baseball back on the field,” Manfred said. “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that I’m a hundred percent certain that’s gonna happen.”
Union chief Tony Clark told MLB on Saturday to let the players know when and where to go to work.
According to USA Today, owners on a conference Monday decided they’ll take the union’s word that negotiations are over, and will now focus on reaching an agreement on the safety and health protocols with the union, as well as a process of creating a schedule.
The threat of a union grievance is also at play. According to the Los Angeles Times, MLB told the players association there would be no 2020 season unless the players waived any legal claims against the league.
