Rob Manfred now says he’s not confident there’ll be 2020 MLB season

Rob Manfred has shifted course, now saying he’s not confident there will be a 2020 MLB season.

Within the course of five days, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has changed his tuned on whether there will be a 2020 season.

The back and forth between the MLB owners and the MLBPA may be over, with Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY reporting the owners have taken the union’s word that negotiations are over and  Manfred has the power to set the number of games that are played, which seems likely to be around 50 games at this point.

On Monday night, ESPN will air a “Return to Sports” roundtable hosted by Mike Greenberg. Commissioners from the major pro sports will participate, including of course Manfred.

Just last week, during the draft telecast, Manfred told ESPN’s Karl Ravech “unequivocally we are going to play Major League Baseball this year.” The likelihood? “100 percent.”

Of course that was before the league moved the financial goal post on the players again, and the union essentially threw in the towel. The union went a step further, with head man Tony Clark essentially asking Manfred to exercise his power to set a schedule.

According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, in a conversation with Greenberg for Monday night’s event, Manfred said he’s “not confident” there will be a 2020 MLB season.

“I’m not confident. I think there’s real risk; and as long as there’s no dialogue, that real risk is gonna continue,” Manfred said when asked if he was confident there would be a season.

Manfred went on, digging his hole a little deeper.

“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,” he said.

Manfred said the MLBPA’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.”

A couple of the owners Manfred cites as being so committed to getting baseball back on the field have recently said that baseball is not all that profitable, and advanced the idea of a salary cap during a pandemic.

Rather than suggest he’ll work on the parameters of a 50-game schedule, for all the criticism that may come with, Manfred has gone toward the nuclear option by saying he’s not confident there’ll even be a 2020 season. And that leaves aside his completely opposite assertion five nights ago. All of it only reinforces the idea that if there really is no season, the blame will belong in one place–the commissioner’s office.