Manfred 'Not Confident', Not '100% certain' that a 2020 MLB season happens

Photo by: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred changed course today with comments that he is uncertain if there will be a 2020 season. Last week, he told ESPN’s Karl Ravech “unequivocally we are going to play Major League Baseball this year”.

BREAKING: MLB commissioner Rob Manfred tells @Espngreeny that he’s “not confident” there will be a 2020 baseball season. “Unfortunately,” Manfred said, “I can’t tell you that I’m a 100% certain that’s gonna happen.”

News at @espn: https://t.co/h1I6Yh5R55

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 15, 2020

“I had been hopeful that once we got to common ground on the idea that we were gonna pay the players full prorated salary, that we would get some cooperation in terms of proceeding under the agreement that we negotiated with the MLBPA on March 26th. Unfortunately, over the weekend, while Tony Clark was declaring his desire to get back to work, the union’s top lawyer was out telling reporters, players and eventually getting back to owners that as soon as we issued a schedule – as they requested – they intended to file a grievance claiming they were entitled to an additional billion dollars. Obviously, that sort of bad-faith tactic makes it extremely difficult to move forward in these circumstances.” – Rob Manfred

Oh, and then there’s this.

Source: In a letter today, MLB told the MLBPA there would be no 2020 season unless the players waived any legal claims against the league.

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) June 15, 2020