Manfred talks mostly A’s during Giants visit

Commissioner Robert Manfred visited AT&T Park Thursday afternoon and was hit with questions mostly concerning the park on the other side of the Bay.

It’s no wonder. The Giants are swimming in calm waters while the city of Oakland is drowning in Coliseum woes. Manfred said he’s pushing for a new A’s home, citing the 81 events it would host:

“(We’re trying to) Help the A’s get a new facility, which the desperately need.”

Manfred addressed AT&T Park employees before he met with press and spoke about plans to establish a new replay center in San Francisco. Why here?

“If New York goes down, there’s somewhere else to go.”

He added that the City by the Bay also has Silicon Valley appeal. Why not plant the MLB smack dab in the middle of the tech boom? The new facility could also relieve some back up in NYC and maybe take on West Coast games.

Giants players also met with the Commissioner, and Bochy said they expressed concern over games scheduled the day after overnight travel from the east coast. Manfred said he would work on it.

Manfred also stated his support of the All-Star Game deciding home field advantage for the World Series. He said there’s no appeal to reverting back to a rotation and gives the MLB an advantage over other sports:

“It played an important role in making it the most important All-Star game in sports.”

Granted, it’s nice to have a competitive All-Star game, but the symbolic and ceremonial aspects to the event arguably far outweigh the competition. Players can’t really be thinking about their impact on the postseason until they know their team has a chance. Chances are, they’re playing for a league rival’s advantage.

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