A reddit user agreed to yell the most-upvoted comment at Rob Manfred in the middle of the World Series, and he delivered.
R/baseball isn’t always kind to Rob Manfred, and rightly so.
Being the commissioner doesn’t bring with it the popularity of, say, a star player. Adam Silver will never be LeBron James. Roger Goodell will never be Tom Brady. And Rob Manfred will never be remotely likable.
Manfred is hated by the fans, he’s hated by the players and even some of the owners have turned against him in recent lockout negotiations. That’s the lockout Major League Baseball infamously could not afford, of course. The same one that forced this 2022 season to be pushed back in the first place. It’s why we’re playing baseball in early November, in part.
With Manfred’s rapidly-decreasing popularity, one reddit user opted to have some fun at his expense.
Reddit user trolls Rob Manfred at World Series
One baseball reddit user posted that he would yell any comment at Rob Manfred (within bounds, of course) which received the most upvotes during the game. As it turns out, the winner involved television blackouts.
The final ‘dumba**’ is an interesting touch. Manfred looks like he’s received this advice before, perhaps with the same expletive attached, as he went right back to watching his on-field product suffer.
While this World Series has received good ratings so far, the overall product is suffering, especially among young people. The NFL and NBA continued to surge ahead of MLB, to a point where they’re competing with the likes of the NHL in America’s sporting landscape.
Rule changes are Manfred’s solution, as he wants to speed up the game. Look no further than the pitch clock and the ghost runner on second base in extra innings.
But, as history will show, that’s not enough to save baseball. As much as Manfred may like to sit back and enjoy the game, the advice reddit gave him was actually halfway decent.