Rob Manfred Says in Retrospect, Rob Manfred Should Have Suspended Astros Players For Cheating Their Way to a World Series Title

Captain Obvious has regrets!

I’m so tired. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images))

Lord, grant me the strength to get through this newsletter.

When we last left Rob Manfred, he was busy insulting A’s fans for failing to support the team’s billionaire nepo baby owner in his quest to tank so thoroughly that the team had no choice but to relocate to Las Vegas.

When Oakland fans organized a reverse boycott to show up and show out and send the message that they will absolutely fill a non-rotting stadium to support a team that is not run by an owner who hates them, Manfred sneered that it was “great to see what is this year almost an average Major League Baseball crowd in the facility for one night." You could almost taste the disdain Manfred has for the unwashed masses when he added that he was too busy to watch the game himself because he was out to dinner with MLB owners.

Evan Drellich, my former colleague at The Athletic, is just about as plugged in on all things Manfred as anyone in the sport. He wrote a fantastic takedown of Manfred’s ruthlessness last week, and I encourage you to read it in full here.

As a Libra obsessed with fairness, I have given credit to Manfred when he has earned it. The new rules this year speeding up pace of play have been fantastic, even if in-person the pitch clock can feel kind of frantic, especially during sellout games when standing in line for a beer can now mean missing three innings.

My detente with this commissioner lasted only a couple of months, however, because it only took him that long to get back on his BS, trashing A’s fans for having the audacity to refuse to buy the crappy product a billionaire who has no idea what he is doing is trying to sell them.

Meanwhile, here in Los Angeles, the Houston Astros are coming to town tomorrow.