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Baseball Fans, Players Not Happy With Manfred Laughing During Tuesday Presser
On Tuesday, after the MLB and MLBPA did not come to an agreement by the owner-imposed 5 p.m. ET deadline, commissioner Rob Manfred moved forward with canceling games.
The first two series of the year for each team have been canceled, effectively eliminating the first week of the 2022 season.
Manfred spoke to the media about the decision, and one aspect of his press conference caught a lot of heat from players and fans. As he was announcing the first in-season work stoppage that the league has seen in 26 seasons, Manfred couldn’t help but laugh, despite it being one of the darker days of his tenure as commissioner.
So Manfred gets on espn live to laugh about cancelling games, and our guys can’t even get MLB network to stream our press conference. Got it.
— Marco Gonzales (@MarcoGonzales_) March 1, 2022
I’m going to laugh so hard if this whole thing backfires and the owners give up Manfred as the fall guy. pic.twitter.com/eXZcpli0cL
— Ollie (@olisamir) March 2, 2022
Tough to watch Manfred smile, laugh and talk about the fans when a lot of people's livelihoods are going to be affected by this.
— Katie Morrison-O'Day (@KatieMo61) March 1, 2022
LEFT: what should have been happening today
— Mark Jent (@MarkHJent) March 2, 2022
RIGHT: what did happen today
Thanks Rob Manfred. Way to laugh your way through the press conference where you announced you’re cancelling games. Well done. You’re crushing it. Welcome to the “disastrous outcome” you said it would be. pic.twitter.com/3SeMNOww7c
When you are very upset over the fact you have to cancel baseball games pic.twitter.com/DdxzOZc54T
— Richard Staff (@RichardStaff) March 1, 2022
why is he smiling pic.twitter.com/BYHFTlF1wG
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 1, 2022
It certainly isn’t what anyone was looking for from Manfred on Tuesday, at least not from those on the players side, or who were optimistic thanks to Monday night’s reports that progress had been made on a deal.
Player representatives reportedly left Florida Tuesday after talks with the league broke down. So far, it is unclear when talks may resume, with just over a month remaining until the the new potential Opening Day in early April.
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Dan Lyons is a staff writer and editor at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI for his second stint in November 2024 after a season as senior college football writer at Athlon Sports and previous three-year run at SI as a writer and editor for the Breaking and Trending News team. When he’s not watching a game, you can find Dan at an indie concert venue or movie theater. Dan has a bachelor’s degree in writing and rhetoric from Syracuse.