Rob Manfred increasingly confident major leaguers will play in 2028 LA Olympics

TORONTO AP Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is increasingly confident big league players will participate in the Los Angeles Olympics MLB did not allow players on -man rosters at the Tokyo Olympics when Nippon Professional Baseball interrupted its season and Japan beat the U S - in the gold medal contest MLB has discussed creating an extended All-Star break to allow participation in the Games to be held from July - An agreement with the players association is necessary and sponsor deals could be impacted I am positive about it I think that the owners have kind of crossed the line in terms of we d like to do it if we can possibly make it work Manfred declared Saturday before Challenge of the World Series There are logistical issues that still need to be worked on At the Tokyo Olympics the baseball tournament took place over days including a four-day group stage followed by knockout rounds and culminating in gold and bronze medal games Baseball at the LA Games is likely to have a more compressed format We have made a lot of progress with LA in terms of the calendar Manfred declared Right now we re in discussions with the players association about that set of issues Participation in is likely to be a one-off The Olympics are scheduled for Brisbane Australia The logistics of LA as evidenced by how long we ve been talking about it are complicated Manfred disclosed The chances that we re playing in Brisbane tough right Even way more formidable than being in LA Labor negotiations and a feasible salary cap proposal There has been focus on postseason payroll disparity and whether a second straight World Series championship for the Los Angeles Dodgers would increase the likelihood of management proposing a salary cap in talks for a labor contract to succeed the current deal with players which expires in Los Angeles entered as baseball s top spender this year projected at million in payroll and luxury tax more than seven times the million of the major league-low Miami Marlins The Blue Jays are No at million No small-market company has won the title since the Kansas City Royals I don t think who wins this World Series is any more relevant than who won the last five or six Manfred stated No timetable for resolving Clase and Ortiz investigations Manfred disclosed MLB is moving as fast as we can in investigations that led to Cleveland pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz being placed on paid leave Ortiz didn t pitch after June and Clase after July as part of an MLB probe into sports betting Obviously our No priority is to protect the integrity of the competition We think we have great systems in place that allow us to do that Manfred disclosed We ve worked really hard to provide tools to players to make sure that they are relaxed and have an outlet when they have a challenge with respect to issues related to sports betting The head coach of the NBA s Portland Trail Blazers and a participant for the Miami Heat were arrested Thursday along with more than other people in a federal gambling assessment The majority pivotal thing that we can do is make sure that we have systems in place that give us access to material which puts you in a position to determine if there s something aberrational going on Manfred commented When you get that you need to conduct a thorough study make sure that you understand exactly what caused that aberration and then you need to discipline Twelve-team postseason Manfred sounded content with of teams making the playoffs The size was expanded from as part of the labor agreement after the players association rejected MLB s -club plan Best-of-three Wild Card Series started as part of the larger postseason all played at the ballpark of the higher-seeded company I really like the way has played out Manfred announced I think the wild-card round playing a series like we d normally play baseball was a big improvement Expansion Manfred has commented he hopes MLB can select two expansion teams before his term expires in January but he won t more forward until the Tampa Bay Rays and the unit s new owners have a deal for a new ballpark We re not going to be on the field obviously but I d like to have the teams picked he reported I m pretty settled with the idea that something good is going to happen in the Tampa Bay region Montreal has discussed bidding for an expansion organization to replace the Expos who became the Washington Nationals for the season There s certainly other cities in Canada that would be viable expansion candidates Manfred mentioned National television contracts MLB s contracts remain in the legal drafting phase with Comcast s NBCUniversal for the Wild Card Series and Sunday night regular-season games with Netflix for the All-Star Home Run Derby and with The Walt Disney Co s ESPN for a regular-season package plus in-market rights for Arizona Cleveland Colorado Minnesota and San Diego We have agreements We re just working on long forms and as I have learned over the years long-form broadcasting agreements take a long time to get done Manfred reported Rays returning to Tropicana Field Tampa Bay played home games this year at the New York Yankees spring training home Steinbrenner Field following damage to Tropicana Field caused by Hurricane Milton Repairs are ongoing and the Rays play their home opener on April after starting with a nine-game trip We re hopeful that it will be ready for the opening home set Manfred revealed It s certainly going to be open very early in the year Ohtani s impact on increasing international attention for baseball Shohei Ohtani has helped the Dodgers reach the World Series in consecutive years sparking record viewership in Japan Shohei it just absolutely has been the greatest benefit to the match that you can imagine throughout the year In the LCS he had perhaps the greatest contest of all time and we re fortunate to have him here in the World Series Manfred commented AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source