Outside The Confines: Manfred throws shade at A’s fans

Happy Monday everyone, I hope your weekends were wonderful and relaxing, and that you’re ready to take on a whole new week of baseball news.

This weekend we had Rob Manfred throwing shade at A’s fans, Shohei Ohtani continuing to obliterate expectations (and already have MVP on lock?), and a new low for a team not based in Oakland.

So if you’re a morning Links reader, grab your coffee, if you’re reading it any time after morning... have you had any water today, you should hydrate... and let’s jump right into today’s links.

• Daniel Brown shares the newest chapter in Drew Robinson’s success story. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Think you can do better than an umpire? In one little league, parents are learning the hard way that it’s not as easy as it looks. Story by Dan Gelston.
• Which of these rookies is poised to become the future face of a franchise?
• Brandon McCarthy has choice words for Rob Manfred making fun of A’s fans. Story by Nick Selbe.
• Evan Drellich doesn’t think we should be surprised that Manfred would say something so foolish. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Ouch. The Braves have DFA’d Charlie Culberson right before his dad was supposed to toss out a Father’s Day first pitch. (ESPN)
• One of these things looks very notable...

• A bus driver transporting the Pirates has been charged with a DUI. (Reuters)
• Jay Jaffe looks at how the Royals have fallen.
• Tom Verducci believes there are none who can challenge Shohei Ohtani for AL MVP.
• Jackson Stone looks at a pretty impressive pair of back-to-back home runs from the Angels.
• Michael Baumann takes a detour from his topic of choice to talk about Rob Manfred.
• Theo DeRosa shares the story of a young Red Sox fan who threw back a gifted ball.
• Dennis Lin thinks Fernando Tatis Jr might be the best right fielder in baseball right now. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• AP looks at how teams are celebrating Juneteenth.
• I... agree?

• Jen McCaffrey has more on that Cora statement. (The Athletic subscription required.)

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.