“We’re going to be just shy of $11 [billion],” Manfred said when asked if revenues would be back over $10 billion.

The figure reached $10.7 billion in 2019, the last full season played without the COVID-19 restrictions that began in in March 2020. That season was delayed four months, abbreviated to 60 games, and played without fans in the stands…

“Look, I think we’ve had a phenomenal year,” Manfred said. “In September, we saw the benefits of the new playoff format. We had weekend draws we hadn’t seen since 2014. The three-game Wild Card round performed really well on a weekend against football.”

MLB recently struck deals with streaming TV services, Apple for seven years at $85 million a season and Peacock, worth $30 million a year for two seasons. Attendance overall was back to 95% of 2019.

“I’m excited about how it went overall,” Manfred said. “I think the postseason in general has been great. And I look forward to 2023 being even better.”

During an interview with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on SiriusXM, Manfred expressed pessimism that the Athletics will be able to figure out a new stadium in Oakland, though he had something different to say about the Tampa Bay Rays’ situation:

“I think the mayor in Oakland [Libby Schaaf] has made a huge effort to try to get it done in Oakland. It just doesn’t look like it’s going to happen ... I’m not positive about it.”

“I think the A’s have proceeded prudently in terms of exploring the Las Vegas alternative, given the lack of pace in Oakland. I think they have to look for an alternative. I see Tampa differently. I think a properly located facility in Tampa, that Tampa’s a viable major league market. I’ve got a lot of faith in [Rays owner] Stu Sternberg. I think they will find a place to get a ballpark built and I think baseball can thrive in Tampa.

When asked if Oakland could leave within the next five years, Manfred said “oh yeah” twice then added “something has to happen, we can’t go five more years in the Coliseum.”

When asked to rate the job he did during the negotiating process, Manfred quickly veered to the following.

“The reality is we weren’t going to play more than 60 games no matter how the negotiations with the players went, or any other factor,” Manfred told Patrick. “I think this is the one thing we come back to every single day: we’re trying to manage something that has proven to be unpredictable and unmanageable. I know it hasn’t looked particularly pretty in spots, but having said that, if we can pull off this 60-game season, I think it was the best we were going to do for our fans given the course of the virus.

“It’s the calendar. We’re playing 60 games in 63 days right now. I don’t see, given the reality of the health situation over the past few weeks, how we were going to get going any faster than the calendar we’re on right now. No matter what the state of those negotiations were.”

For something so unpredictable, Manfred seemed pretty convinced that the coronavirus would only give MLB a 60-game window.

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN on Monday he’s “not confident” there will be a 2020 baseball season and that “as long as there’s no dialogue” with the MLB Players Association, “that real risk is going to continue.”

In a conversation with Mike Greenberg for ESPN’s “The Return of Sports” special, Manfred walked back comments made to ESPN last week, when he said “unequivocally we are going to play Major League Baseball this year” and pegged the likelihood at “100%.”

“I’m not confident. I think there’s real risk; and as long as there’s no dialogue, that real risk is gonna continue,” Manfred said when asked if he was confident there would be a season.