Shortly after the MLBPA rejected MLB’s final offer, commissioner Rob Manfred made the inevitable announcement. The start of the regular season would be not only postponed but canceled.
Manfred announced that the first two series of the year were canceled. When he was asked why those games couldn’t be rescheduled, Manfred said that interleague play taking place every day makes that impossible, as the teams in those games won’t be together enough later in the year to make up games.
As would be expected, the reaction from MLB fans and those who work in MLB was not positive.
Some of those critiques came from players.
"I don't think it's necessary. The PA has been setting up training camps and in 2020, we showed we could do it in three weeks. .. But that's their prerogative and Rob's bargaining strategy was to push up past this deadline and see if they could shove a deal down our throats."
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) March 1, 2022
But the players weren’t the only ones critiquing Manfred. Far from it.
Not all reactions were suitable for print. Plenty were, though, and they were not kind to Manfred and the claims he made during his press conference.
One particular claim that Manfred made that had people puzzled was when he talked about how the last five years have been difficult on MLB’s revenue, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic didn’t exist until late-2019 and the shutdowns didn’t begin to take place in the United States until March 2020.
Additionally, many were quick to point out that MLB’s revenue issues would be envied by nearly any other business in the world.
But that wasn’t the only point of contention with his press conference.
Apparently they have to cancel games because of interleague games, not because Manfred and owners have decided to cancel games. Let me make this clear. The cancelation of games is part of a lockout that is a 100% management decision. It is not required by law or circumstances.
— eugenefreedman.bsky.social (@EugeneFreedman) March 1, 2022
Tim Kurkjian is being NEGATIVE on ESPN, that's all you need to know about how stupid this lockout is.
We've made the happiest man on the planet sad.
— Trey Mongrue (@TreyMongrue) March 1, 2022
This is clearly not a great day for baseball. And if Manfred was hoping to win some sort of public relations battle in his press conference, he didn’t do a great job.