Not good. Marlins have a COVID outbreak on their roster and it causes a ripple effect. And this is with COVID protocols in place with NO fans in attendance.

Quote:The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies will not play their Monday night game as scheduled, Major League Baseball announced. The game at Citizens Bank Park has been postponed. The game's status came into question Monday morning, when the Miami Marlins were confirmed to have a COVID-19 outbreak on their roster.

The Marlins, who played the Phillies in Philadelphia over the weekend in Philadelphia, reportedly have had at least 14 individuals test positive since last week. That group includes catcher Jorge Alfaro, outfielders Garrett Cooper and Harold Ramirez, and pitcher Jose Urena, whose positive test forced him to be scratched from his Sunday start.

In response to that news, the Marlins' home opener, which was scheduled for Monday night against the Baltimore Orioles, has also been postponed.

Damn.

Sorry if this was already posted upstream but here are some of the protocols MLB implemented to combat COVID this season...

Quote:No wonder why MLB’s 2020 Operations Manual consumed more than 100 pages, trying to give the sport the best possible chance to get through the season, with guidelines from washing your hands, to where you can shower, to banning hotel swimming pools, to restricted to room service, to even standing (or kneeling) for the national anthem.

Yep, the manual, a copy obtained by USA TODAY Sports, has it all.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous and unprecedented impact on our daily lives, our families and our communities,’’ the introduction reads. “This is a challenging time, but we will meet the challenge by continuing to work together. Adherence to the health and safety protocols described in this manual will increase our likelihood of being successful.

Players won’t even have the same lockers. Maybe not even the same locker room. All lockers must be six feet apart from one another, meaning some will be in the home clubhouse, others in the visitor’s clubhouse, some in the umpires’ room, others simply in the stadium workers cafeteria.

Spring training will be divided into three phases, starting with individual and small groups, full team workouts, and then no more than three spring-training games.

Once the season starts – ooh boy – get ready for restrictions.

Players, who will be prohibited from entering the stadium if their temperature is above 100.4, will have their temperature and symptoms checked at least twice a day. They will have saliva tests every other day. And once per month, players will be given antibody tests.

There will be no lounging in the clubhouse. Players can’t come earlier than five hours before game time. They must leave 90 minutes after the game. There’s no buffet, only pre-packaged food. And no showers. MLB would prefer players shower back at the hotel.

When players walk onto the field, they must stay six feet away from everyone. That means your teammates, coaches and opponents. The fraternization rule that has been ignored for decades now will be strictly enforced.

When the game starts, not everyone can sit in the dugout. Some of the players will have to sit in the stands, spaced out between not only seats, but entire rows. There will be no fans anyway.

And no more spitting. Tobacco is forbidden. You can chew, but not sunflower seeds. Gum is permitted, but you can’t spit it out.

And when you get to your hotel, whatever you do, don’t stop at the bar for a quick adult beverage, grab a bite to eat in the hotel restaurant, or even use the elevator. The use of an elevator isn’t prohibited, but MLB is requesting all players to have low-level rooms, and use the stairs.

The operation manual really covers just about everything, and even if there is an outbreak of COVID-19 in a city, forcing a team to abandon their stadium, MLB has the right to shift games to neutral sites for the regular season and postseason.

If there’s a significant outbreak on a team, there’s a 60-man club player pool hoping to cover it.

Read More Protocols Here

(07-27-2020 06:15 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  Sorry if this was already posted upstream but here are some of the protocols MLB implemented to combat COVID this season...

Quote:If there’s a significant outbreak on a team, there’s a 60-man club player pool hoping to cover it.[/b]

This is the possible next step here. MLB would tell the Marlins to send the 30 players at their "alternate training site" to Baltimore to play the Orioles while the Marlins players and coaches who were in Philadelphia stay in their Philadelphia hotel in a pseudo-quarantine.

Guess Rachel Phelps finally got her team to Miami....

What happens if the Nats players flat-out refuse to play the Marlins this weekend?

(07-28-2020 01:49 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

So the answer to my question is, "OK, Nats, take the weekend off!"

Also means MLB has already given up on trying to have every team play the same number of games.

(07-28-2020 02:28 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(07-28-2020 01:49 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

So the answer to my question is, "OK, Nats, take the weekend off!"

Also means MLB has already given up on trying to have every team play the same number of games.

they could easily make up the games...

(07-28-2020 02:38 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(07-28-2020 02:28 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(07-28-2020 01:49 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

So the answer to my question is, "OK, Nats, take the weekend off!"

Also means MLB has already given up on trying to have every team play the same number of games.

they could easily make up the games...

MLB is probably thinking of making switches to have the Yankees play the Phillies next week and the Marlins play in Baltimore. But to make up every game would require the Marlins to play 4 games in 3 days at Baltimore, and they would probably also have to play several doubleheaders in September to make up 3 games each vs. the Nationals and Phillies.

(07-28-2020 05:07 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(07-28-2020 02:38 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(07-28-2020 02:28 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(07-28-2020 01:49 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

So the answer to my question is, "OK, Nats, take the weekend off!"

Also means MLB has already given up on trying to have every team play the same number of games.

they could easily make up the games...

MLB is probably thinking of making switches to have the Yankees play the Phillies next week and the Marlins play in Baltimore. But to make up every game would require the Marlins to play 4 games in 3 days at Baltimore, and they would probably also have to play several doubleheaders in September to make up 3 games each vs. the Nationals and Phillies.

with the Nats it's actually not too bad...
1- They have 4 games in August in DC. Have 1 DH there
2- They have 3 games in September in Miami. Also have common off day the day before. Play that day with 1 DH in there.

I love this idea-

I sure wish Brookes was around- he'd be loving tonight....

MLB is going to have to find a way to make decisions on the fly more quickly, or people are going to start thinking they don't know what the hell they're doing.

Phillies-Blue Jays series that was scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled or postponed.

I don;t know about ya'll, but so far, beyond Opening day for my team, I'm taking 2020 as a huge mulligan. Nothing is remotely close to "normal" in baseball 9as well as in other sports) so whatever happens, I'll get what enjoyment/escape I can and worry about real baseball hopefully returning next season. Also, hope the DH in the NL and the extra innings rule disappear after this aberration. Now, if Braves win the WS this year...then it was real!!! ha ha!

(07-30-2020 08:11 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  I don;t know about ya'll, but so far, beyond Opening day for my team, I'm taking 2020 as a huge mulligan. Nothing is remotely close to "normal" in baseball 9as well as in other sports) so whatever happens, I'll get what enjoyment/escape I can and worry about real baseball hopefully returning next season. Also, hope the DH in the NL and the extra innings rule disappear after this aberration. Now, if Braves win the WS this year...then it was real!!! ha ha!

Peter King wrote this in his column this week; it applies just as well to MLB and any other sport playing this year. Anything and everything might be unfair this year.

Quote:In May, I wrote that coaches and all football people had to prepare for a wholly unfair season because there will be inequities, and maybe a lot of them. One team can have 20,000 fans at home in the second half of a season; a division rival can have zero. One team gets four linebackers knocked out for two weeks by COVID; a division rival has a clean bill of health. One team is forced to abandon a home game or two because of a COVID spike; a division rival, with an extra home game, might win the division. Maybe there’s a Week 18, with COVID-related postponement being made up. And, much less likely, maybe this is the first NFL season in 85 years when every team doesn’t play a full season of games.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...eter-king/

I know 1 major difference this year vs last year for the Dodgers.... the bullpen. They actually can get folks out. So far they have a 1.04 ERA. Last year it ultimately killed them vs the Nats.

(07-30-2020 11:55 PM)stever20 Wrote:  I know 1 major difference this year vs last year for the Dodgers.... the bullpen. They actually can get folks out. So far they have a 1.04 ERA. Last year it ultimately killed them vs the Nats.

I'm not lying-

(07-31-2020 12:09 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(07-30-2020 11:55 PM)stever20 Wrote:  I know 1 major difference this year vs last year for the Dodgers.... the bullpen. They actually can get folks out. So far they have a 1.04 ERA. Last year it ultimately killed them vs the Nats.

I'm not lying-

I don't know which one Brookes would be more shocked on....

The actual numbers by the Dodgers bullpen
or that I'm actually praising the Dodgers bullpen

Not a good sign thus far...

Quote:Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred told union head Tony Clark on Friday that the league could be forced to shut down the season due to COVID-19 if infections continue to rise over the coming days, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan. The belief is that this weekend will go a long way in determining the viability of the 60-game season, Passan noted, with local health officials being "troubled by the lack of mask wearing, high-fiving and spitting by players."

Passan notes that players who were briefed on the call between Manfred and Clark believe the season could be halted as soon as Monday.

Although the regular season is just over a week old, already MLB has experienced a full-blown outbreak with the Miami Marlins. Six teams have had their originally scheduled games for Friday postponed due to COVID-19-related complications. That's a full 20 percent of the league. Fifteen total games have been postponed since Monday, including Friday's Cardinals-Brewers series opener after two St. Louis players tested positive.

The league released its latest COVID-19 testing information shortly after Passan's report broke. The league said it had 29 new positive tests in the last week, and 21 of them came from one team (the Marlins).

The incubation period of the virus means that more positive tests could be forthcoming regardless of players' behavior over the next few days. Generally, it takes between two and 14 days for COVID-19 to manifest, with the median falling around five days. As such, a positive test on Saturday or Sunday might have been the result of being infected midway through the week.

MLB has reacted to the Marlins' outbreak and other positive tests by ramping up its prevention approach, including installing compliance officers. While the league should be applauded in the sense that it has approached the virus in a flexible way, it's at least equally concerning (if not more so) that such provisions were not in place before the season got underway.

As such, it should be noted that placing the blame on the players (and the players alone) is an oversimplification of the situation. The league, for instance, could have taken a more proactive approach in many regards, be it testing, education, and even how it handles rain delays and weather-related postponements.

Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo voiced his frustration with MLB's protocols on Wednesday night, while the team waited for its game against the Cincinnati Reds to be officially postponed. Rizzo had a point. Based on what is known about how COVID-19 transmits, the highest risk situations entail prolonged exposure in intimate settings amid large crowds in enclosed or poorly ventilated rooms or areas. Or, essentially, clubhouses.

MLB also erred in allowing the Marlins to make their own decision to play against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday, even as four players were known to have tested positive. While the chances of a team-to-team transmission during a game seem remote, the league should have been involved in that decision-making process.

Learning on the fly [pardon the pun]