MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Deliberately Declined Plans For Bubbles And Now He Is Eating His Words

Rob Manfred has proven to be the most incompetent commissioner of the four major American sports. And it’s not close. It took less than a week for the 2020 MLB season to turn into a disaster. Nearly half of the Miami Marlins tested positive for COVID in a matter of two days. It created an immediate domino effect on the rest of the MLB, leading to several postponements. Without a bubble, this is something everyone saw coming. Except for Manfred.

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Friday night's game between the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals has been postponed after the Cardinals had multiple positive coronavirus tests, sources told @JeffPassan. https://t.co/7GQ2p8cBsu

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 31, 2020

First the Marlins, then the Cardinals, and now the 2020 MLB season is doomed. I said it recently, but I will say it again. I thought Manfred’s incompetency would lead to the MLB season’s demise before corona had a chance to get ahold of it. And, technically, I was right. Rob Manfred deliberately declined plans for using bubbles to isolate organizations in a few regions of the United States.

Back during the lockdown, owners and players discussed multiple different bubble concepts. At one point, the two opposing sides contemplated situating all 30 teams in Arizona. Later, the idea of three satellite bubbles, in Florida, Arizona, and Texas was considered. At the end of the day, the MLB powers opted to have teams play in their home ballparks with a regionalized schedule.

Here’s what Manfred had to say on the matter:

“I think the decision that we made with respect to the bubble was the right one,” the MLB commissioner said. “We’re different than other sports. We would have had to have multiple locations probably just in order to have enough facilities to make it work. The number of people involved and the number of people to support the number of players was much, much larger in our sport. The duration would have been much longer, and the longer you go, the more people you have, the less likely it is that you can make the bubble work.”

No, Manfred, the decision you made was not the right one. What I’m hearing Manfred say is that MLB executives didn’t want to put in the work to do what takes to deliver a safe season. Although, Manfred did have the players to appease, who wanted to continue to play in home stadiums. However, I’m not here to bail Manfred out. He dropped the ball. More than once.

Adam Silver did it. Dana White did it. And now Manfred looks like a huge joker. After the Marlins fiasco, Manfred was quoted saying that the situation was “not a nightmare” for the MLB. This dude is absolutely clueless. I suppose Manfred wasn’t wrong, though. The Marlins outbreak was not a “nightmare.” It was and is a reality. A season-ending revelation. One that Manfred should have foreseen. We all did.

The 2020 MLB season is officially doomed. Manfred is a clown. Thank God for the NBA. The first night of games in the Orlando bubble were instant classics. Both came down to the wire. If it weren’t for them, I would be in the doldrums today. Figure it out, Manfred. You’re an embarrassment to the league.

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