In a series of exclusive interviews, the MLB commissioner talks about cheating scandals, rules changes and his plans to return the game to a crisper form of itself.
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In the evenings, Manfred tends to watch more than one game at a time at his Upper East Side apartment. "I will confess, I watch a lot of New York baseball, both the Yankees and Mets."
"And when you watch baseball as a fan, what's your biggest aggravation?"
"I think the same sort of sentiments that we hear from our fans in terms of pace of the game," he says. "I think the pace issue, the action issue, is more acute in a broadcast than it is at the ballpark."
Several new rules have already been implemented to accelerate the pace, and none have really worked. One is a relief pitcher -- unless he is injured -- must face three batters or complete an inning before being replaced to cut down on pitchers' changes. Another is the "ghost runner" placed on second base in extra innings, a rule that exists to end a game faster. Through Sunday, the average nine-inning game this season was 3 hours, 5 minutes, only 5 minutes shorter than last season's all-time record high. MLB internal research finds that not only do most fans believe the games go on too long, they're frustrated that there's often too little action, a lethal combination. This year's league-wide batting average stands at a paltry .242, the lowest since 1968. Home runs and run-scoring are down, while strikeouts are near the all-time high.
Even the game's more conservative owners complain that games stretching three to four hours must end. "The game has changed and it has changed for the worse," says DeWitt Jr., the 80-year-old Cardinals owner. "To be honest, players get out of the box and fool around for no reason. Come on, get in the box! And the pitcher is walking around the mound. I don't know what they're doing. ... The game needs fixing. It's just slow."
Manfred agrees with that assessment. He tells me, in terms far more certain than he has laid out publicly before, that he fully supports revamping the game with pitch clocks, the elimination of the shift and, in 2024, some form of robo-umpires. Now he must sell those changes to players and fans, some of whom believe he doesn't have baseball's best interests at heart. A big challenge, for sure, but one Manfred doesn't believe is insurmountable. "I think that people pay a lot of attention, can be hypercritical if not downright mean," he says. "That's actually a good thing for the game's future."
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No matter how they see the CBA's fine print, owners seem thrilled with Manfred's job performance. And why wouldn't they be? Despite its array of problems, league sources say baseball has grown into a $10 billion-plus-a-year sport, up from $8 billion when Manfred became commissioner.
Owners also loved Manfred's reorganization of the minor leagues in 2020, and in the past decade, franchise valuations have more than quadrupled. Not surprisingly, billionaires want in, and expansion is coming. "I would love to get to 32 teams," Manfred tells me.
And the owners have rewarded Manfred with a $17.5 million annual contract -- plus performance bonuses, the pay package has exceeded $25 million -- that expires after the 2024 season.
"Rob is a relentless guy focused on success," says McGuirk, the Braves chairman. "There are very few down days looking at the business of baseball with Rob at the helm. If we had to sign up for him again, we'd do it in spades 10 times over."
