MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has been criticized for many of his decision, perhaps most notably for not punishing any of the Houston Astros' players who were involved in the team's sign-stealing scandal. More than three years after Astros players admitted to banging on a trash can to notify hitters what pitch was coming, Manfred has acknowledged that he might've made a mistake.

Astros players were given immunity as Rob Manfred and MLB tried to find out how the Astros used a trash can and the center field video camera to cheat in 2017 and 2018. Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow and Manager AJ Hinch were suspended for the entire 2020 season. Houston was also fined and forced to forfeit future draft picks.

Manfred now appears regretful of the decision to rule out suspensions for Astros players who cheated on their way to winning the 2017 World Series.

“I'm not sure that I would have approached it with giving players immunity,” Manfred told Time in an interview that was published Wednesday. “Once we gave players immunity, it puts you in a box as to what exactly you were going to do in terms of punishment.

“I might have gone about the investigative process without that grant of immunity and see where it takes us. Starting with, I'm not going to punish anybody, maybe not my best decision ever.”

There were even some calls for MLB to strip the Astros of their 2017 World Series title, which Manfred and MLB ignored. The closest thing to punishment that Houston experienced was the wrath of opposing fans, though even that was much less intense than it could've been.

Because of the pandemic, games were played entirely without fans during the truncated 2020 MLB regular season, the first year in which there was widespread knowledge of the Astros' cheating scandal.