MLB commissioner Rob Manfred: ‘We weren’t going to play more than 60 games’

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred made an interesting revelation Wednesday about negotiations between MLB and the players union. In an interview with Dan Patrick, Manfred said the 2020 season was never going to be more than 60 games given the spread of the coronavirus - at least by the time they got to serious negotiations two weeks ago.

"The reality is we weren't going to play more than 60 games, no matter how the negotiation with the players went, or any other factor," Manfred said on The Dan Patrick Show. "Sixty games is outside the envelope given the realities of the virus. I think this is the one thing that we come back to every single day: We're trying to manage something that has proven to be unpredictable and unmanageable.

"I know it hasn't looked particularly pretty in spots, but having said that, if we can pull off this 60-game season, I think it was the best we were gonna do for our fans given the course of the virus."

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Manfred unilaterally imposed a 60-game season after the two sides couldn't come to terms. The union rejected the owners' final proposal, retaining the right to file a grievance against the owners for not negotiating in good faith.

Whether Manfred's comments become a point of contention in any grievance the players might file is unclear. The league would likely argue Manfred was referring to negotiations after his face-to-face meeting with MLBPA executive director Tony Clark on June 16. Manfred's comments to Patrick's follow up question - if the league would have been willing to go to 80 games, had the players agreed to all their terms - also points to this.

"It's the calendar, Dan. We're playing 60 games in 63 days. I don't see - given the reality of the health situation over the past few weeks - how we were gonna get going any faster than the calendar we're on right now, no matter what the state of those negotiations were.

"Look, we did get a sub-optimal result from the negotiation in some ways. The fans aren't gonna get an expanded postseason, which I think would have been good with the shortened season. The players left real money on the table. But that's what happens when you have a negotiation that instead of being collaborative, gets into sort of a conflict situation."

The players' final proposal called for a 70-game season. At this point in the calendar, 60 games in 69 days (Sept. 27 is the reported end date for the regular season) leaves room for a couple more games, not 70 (or more).

So, Manfred's right that 60 games on the current timetable was probably the most MLB can fit in amid the pandemic. But you have to wonder if the union will use those comments in a potential grievance.