MLB commissioner Rob Manfred addresses potential lockout, gambling scandal at owners' meetings

With Major League Baseball having just staged perhaps the greatest World Series ever played, commissioner Rob Manfred stepped to the podium Wednesday afternoon and addressed potential threats to the sport’s newfound momentum.

Manfred, speaking at MLB’s headquarters in midtown Manhattan, was hosting the owners meetings, a fitting backdrop to the looming labor Armageddon that could put the 2027 season in jeopardy. He mostly skirted the competitive-balance debate, inflamed yet again by the $400 million Dodgers repeating as world champs, but it was certainly a primary discussion at these meetings, with the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire in roughly 13 months.

Amid the record TV ratings for this year’s World Series, and the new broadcast deals struck with Netflix, NBC and ESPN, the specter of a prolonged shutdown continues to haunt the sport. That’s mostly due to the owners’ rekindled push for some sort of salary cap, and the union’s steadfast opposition to any possible brake on player compensation.

So with MLB experiencing a renaissance, Manfred now faces the challenge of assuring the fans (and paying customers) that his highly entertaining product won’t be derailed by more labor strife. It’s a promise he wasn’t ready to make Wednesday, however.

“All I can say to you is this, I came to the commissioner’s office] really with one goal, and that was to have negotiations with the MLBPA that resulted in at least one agreement where there was no work stoppage,” Manfred said. “There has never been a lost game since I became involved as an employee of baseball and it is my goal to get this next one done, keeping that record intact.”

MLB’s 2021 lockout lasted 99 days, but was resolved in March, allowing for the entire regular season to be played once Opening Day was pushed back until April 7. The question is just how far the salary-cap hawks among these owners will force the issue this time around, and Manfred already has come face to face with the players’ animosity during his annual clubhouse visits this past summer. On Wednesday, he didn’t reveal the depth of the owners’ conversations on the subject, or the state of negotiations with the union.

“I’m just trying to have a good, open line of communication with the MLBPA,” Manfred said, “as you would hope you would have in a healthy labor relationship.”

Manfred did take very public action last week in the wake of two Guardians relievers, Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, being indicted by the FBI for rigging pitches as part of a prop-bet gambling conspiracy. Both pitchers potentially face decades in prison, along with presumably a lifetime ban from the sport, and Manfred’s immediate response (in conjunction with baseball’s sportsbook partners) was to limit the wagers on these prop bets to $200.

Even with the obvious danger to the sport’s integrity, for something so easily manipulated as throwing balls or strikes, or a pitch’s velocity, Manfred did not think it was necessary to remove these prop bets entirely.

“I think that the most important undertaking, and really the bedrock of our relationship with the sportsbooks, is the ability to monitor betting activity,” Manfred said. “The ability to discern inappropriate patterns is really, really important. We understood the prop bet issue from the very beginning. I’m glad we’ve done something about it. But the rest of the program right now, I think we’re generally prepared to move forward under the rules that we have now.”

Manfred also announced a number of TV deals, including a three-year contract with Netflix, which will stream the Home Run Derby and the Yankees’ March 25 opener against the Giants.

ESPN’s revamped broadcast agreement now includes the rights to sell and distribute MLB.TV, the streaming service for out-of-market games. NBC Universal takes Sunday Night Baseball and all four Wild Card Series. Fox will continue to broadcast the World Series and All-Star Games, along with splitting League Championship Series and Division Series games with TBS.

“I think the business has great momentum right now,” Manfred said. “I think we’ve been blessed with an influx of amazingly talented players from around the world. I think the changes that we’ve made in the game make the product on the field more compelling and I think it’s showed up in terms of the metrics: More people going to the ballparks live and more viewership, really across all our platforms.”

This past season definitely supports Manfred’s claim. The year ahead, however, could put that all at risk.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.