Rob Manfred Faces Heat from Fans After Expressing Ideas About In-Season Tournament and Split Season: “Just Loves Making Baseball Worse”

Commissioner Rob Manfred admitted that the league had floated ideas of having an in-season tournament and having a split-season format.

Rob Manfred Faces Heat from Fans After Expressing Ideas About In-Season Tournament and Split Season: “Just Loves Making Baseball Worse”

Rob Manfred (Image via Fox News)

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MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred generated a buzz on social media on Thursday following a radio interview. The 67-year-old expressed that the league had considered ideas of implementing an in-season tournament and having a split season format.

An in-season tournament could see the season being split up like the NBA Cup in the NBA. The in-season tournament in the NBA has received mixed reactions from fans, players and experts.

Throughout its long history, the MLB has never hosted any in-season tournaments. For them to have such a tournament, the league would need to split the 162-game schedule.

While speaking with WFAN’s Chris Carton and Chris McMonigle, Manfred did claim that it will be difficult for them to have an in-season tournament.

We’ve talked about split seasons. We’ve talked about in-season tournaments. We do understand that 162 (games) is a long pull. I think the difficulty to accomplish those sort of in-season events, you almost inevitably start talking about fewer regular-season games.

Rob Manfred said via Evan Drellich of The Athletic

The MLB, though, has tried a split season twice. The first one took place in 1892, after the National League split the season in an attempt to increase interest among fans. The other split season took place in 1981 due to the players’ strike.

Following a 2-month strike from June to August 1981, the season was restarted. First-place team from each half in each division went on to meet in the best-of-five divisional series.

Fans berate Rob Manfred’s idea about a split-season format and in-season tournament

Rob Manfred recently expressed that the league had discussed about splitting the season and adding an in-tournament. The MLB fans on social media were not too pleased to hear this ideas.

Rob Manfred
Rob Manfred (Image via Toronto Star)

Many on X slammed him and did not show much interest in his idea of having an in-season tournament like the NBA Cup. One user wrote, “just loves to make baseball worse” while taking a shot at the MLB top boss.

Check out that and some other reactions from X below:

Manfred would also speak about the expansion and realignment of the league. In August 2025, he expressed that they were open to realigning the league and trying something new.

He admitted that for a realignment, the league will need to add 2 more teams and take the total to 32. He, however, added that he would not like to see same-city teams like the New York Yankees and the New York Mets in the same division if realignment takes place. At the moment, none of his ideas are guaranteed to be implemented.

Rob Manfred doubles down on his retirement plan

During the radio interview with WFAN’s Chris Carton and Chris McMonigle, Rob Manfred discussed several topics. One of them was his retirement from the post in 2029. He would double down on his plan and admitted that he will be done once his term ends.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred
Rob Manfred (Image via Imago)

In 2024, Manfred revealed that he would step down from his post as the MLB Commissioner in 2029. In the interview, he explained that he would be 70 by the then and thus will stick with his decision.

I’m done at the end of this contract, I’ve told them that, and I’m going to stick to that. I’ll be 70. Yeah, it is enough.

Rob Manfred said

Manfred took over this post in 2015 and replaced Bud Selig. In this tenure, the MLB has undergone several changes. Some of them include the implementation of the pitch clock rule and the usage of the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system.

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