Being the leader of any professional sports league is a tall task, and it's a role that Rob Manfred has assumed with the MLB since he took over for Bud Selig back in 2015. While Manfred has been a divisive commissioner since he took over, he recently announced that he will be stepping down as the leader of the league after the 2029 campaign, meaning that his time in charge is coming to an end.
Unsurprisingly, with the announcement of that news, fans quickly began to wonder who would end up replacing Manfred. Expected names, such as Theo Epstein and Dan Halem, quickly emerged as the front runners, but there were some more interesting guys on the list too. Perhaps most surprisingly, former President of the United States Barack Obama has odds of +1400 to replace Manfred.
Other strange names on the list include ESPN baseball reports Jeff Passan and Tim Kurkjian, who both have odds of +10000. Former New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter also has +10000 odds, as all three of these guys would be extreme longshots to somehow find their way into the commissioner's chair as Manfred's replacement.
Considering the circumstances, Barack Obama's odds to replace Rob Manfred are surprisingly low. It's worth noting that he is known to be a fan of baseball and the MLB, but would that be enough to help him emerge from out of nowhere as the league's next leader? Time will tell, but maybe Obama's campaign to replace Manfred in a few years is one that fans should be paying attention to, even if it doesn't actually exist right now.
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