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Outside The Confines: Is Rob Manfred bluffing?

Before the weekend, it seemed like the difficult situation of the Marlins mass run of positive tests might leave the season in jeopardy.

Since then, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred issued an ultimatum to union head Tony Clark: The players need to shape up, or the season is on the cusp of being cancelled.

In a sense, it was almost as if Manfred finally realized that if lives were at risk, it might be time to start taking safety protocols more seriously. But mere days later, it would appear that Manfred’s words were little more than a scare tactic to get the players in line.