Rob Manfred No Longer Confident 2020 MLB Season Will Happen in Depressing Turn of Events

Even MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is starting to doubt the idea that a 2020 MLB season will finally materialize given the months of arguing between the owners and the player's union.

Manfred told ESPN's Mike Greenberg that he is "not confident" that a 2020 season will happen, adding that he is not 100 percent certain games will be played despite saying the opposite just days ago.

"The owners are a hundred percent committed to getting baseball back on the field," Manfred said. "Unfortunately, I can't tell you that I'm a hundred percent certain that's gonna happen."

Manfred called the prolonged absence "a disaster for our game," which reads like he's trying to pass the buck to the two warring factions locked in a negotiation battle rather than accept responsibility on his own. He also tried to shift the blame back to the MLBPA, claiming that the decision to end good-faith negotiations was "really negative in terms of our efforts."

This recent saving face is in sharp contrast to what he told Karl Ravech right before the 2020 MLB Draft, when he said that there would "unequivocally" be a 2020 MLB season.

According to Bill Shaikin of the LA Times, the league also sent a letter to the MLBPA that claimed there would be no 2020 season unless the players waived any legal claims against the MLB.

If games aren't played this year, despite the fact that Manfred could institute a short season given his power as commissioner, let the record show that the inactivity of the commissioner and the unwillingness of a greedy group of 30 billionaires to move an inch in negotiations torpedoed their chances.