Welp, it was fun while it lasted.
https://nypost.com/2020/07/27/marlins-co...n-sherman/
Marlins’ coronavirus outbreak threatens MLB season: Sherman
By Joel ShermanJuly 27, 2020 | 12:31pm
MLB left its cocoon and learned it may not be able to play a season.
Eleven of the 33 players in the Marlins traveling party, plus two coaches, tested positive for COVID-19 while the team was in Philadelphia for the first weekend of the regular season, reiterating how contagious the virus is and how quickly a club could be susceptible to wide outbreak.
MLB’s immediate action was to keep the Marlins traveling party in Philadelphia and postpone Monday night’s home opener against the Orioles in Miami, which is currently a COVID-19 epicenter. In addition, the Yankees game at Philadelphia was postponed, as Phillie personnel who came into contact with the Marlins over the weekend await COVID-19 test results and the visiting clubhouse that was used by the Marlins for three games is sanitized.
But those are merely threads of where this could lead.
MLB was having its now standard 30-owner conference call on Monday afternoon. But it was not standard now. The league has to decide if protocols need amending on when to cancel games if player(s) test positive. Four Marlin players had tested positive over the weekend, with three learning about it Saturday night. Yet the Miami-Philadelphia game was still played Sunday. Then a new batch of results came Monday morning that showed the wider contagion.
The larger question now is not about Monday’s games. But all games. Is this a Rudy Gobert moment for MLB where the league goes from monitoring to shutting down in a blink?
“I would say when you get numbers like this, particularly from a Florida MLB team, you start to ask yourself about the risks of continuing your business on a day-to-day basis,” Dr. Joseph Kim, an infectious disease consultant at ID Care in New Jersey, said.
In mid-May Dr. Kim voiced optimism that MLB could pull off its plan. However, in an interview with The Post on Monday, Kim noted how much had changed in the past two-and-a-half months — notably, the reduction of cases in the tri-State area while Florida, Arizona and Texas, among other areas, had spiked. He said, “This is a little bit different than finding one or two positives. This is finding several positives. This kind of occurrence definitely calls into question the well-being of players and staff. If the players are likely not going to get really sick, the older coaches could get sick.”
MLB had produced optimistic test numbers going into the weekend. That predated the regular season and mass travel necessitating flights, bus rides and hotel stays. That the first group of Marlin players tested positive from tests administered Friday suggests that they were not infected in Philadelphia, but brought the virus with them, exposing any airport or hotel staff, etc. to the virus, in addition to Phillies personnel.
That the virus incubates for several days and often carriers are asymptomatic means there is no way to know in the moment if any person is virus-free, despite MLB’s attempt with testing of on-field personnel every other day to be as current as possible.
MLB’s initial plan was to try to play this season in a bubble in either Arizona, or Arizona and Florida, or those two states plus Texas. But players did not want that level of restriction, and many teams did not want to leave their comfort/equipment and give up on eventually having some paying fans return. Thus, as opposed to what the NBA and NHL will try with a bubble, MLB decided to try to play in home parks. Also, by the time even the second spring training had begun, Arizona, Florida and Texas were among the states dealing with the most substantial coronavirus cases. In fact, MLB is trying to play when case numbers in the country are significantly higher than when the sport closed down in March.
The degree of difficulty in traveling and staying free of the virus was emphasized when the Canadian government ruled that the Blue Jays would be the one team not to play games in their usual Toronto home. The government was largely afraid of teams coming from hot spots like Miami into the country to play in Toronto. Pennsylvania officials made the same decision about not letting the Blue Jays use Pittsburgh as a home base. Yet here was Philadelphia becoming the epicenter of MLB’s first in-season crisis nevertheless.
MLB was anticipating the potential for teams suffering multiple positive results. It is why each club has a 60-man pool from which to pick players, with those not on the active roster either working out at a satellite facility or comprising a three-man taxi squad when teams are on the road. Still, there is theory and reality. Now, there is the reality of the Marlins, who also have been without outfielders Lewis Brinson and Matt Joyce, both sidelined for weeks without explanation (teams can only announce players are COVID-19-positive or have symptoms of COVID-19 with the player’s permission).
Clearly, if Miami is forced to play by going deep into its satellite team, it will severely compromise its competitiveness and further strike at the legitimacy of a season already under attack, mainly for its 60-game length.
But it is not like MLB can just park the Marlins and play on, when that will impact the schedule of so many other clubs. Also, how long are the Phillies going to be asked to quarantine without a game to assure they have a virus-free roster?
These questions became more pertinent after just one weekend of regular season play. Raising the biggest question of all: Can MLB play a season in this environment?
— Additional reporting by Ken Davidoff.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ml...517567002/
Opinion: MLB season now in jeopardy after COVID-19 outbreak hits Miami Marlins
Bob Nightengale
USA TODAY
It took four months for the Major League Baseball season to start, and now just 72 hours into it, the season could be abruptly ending.
Commissioner Rob Manfred must decide whether to delay the 2020 season, postpone it until further notice or simply hope the Miami Marlins’ outbreak is an isolated case.
For now, Major League Baseball postponed two games scheduled for Monday night, the Marlins' home game against the Baltimore Orioles, and New York Yankees' game in Philadelphia vs. the Phillies.
The Marlins have at least 14 players and staff members who have tested positive for COVID-19, and the team cancelled their flight home from Philadelphia after playing three games there this weekend.
It’s currently unknown how the outbreak occurred with the Marlins, who played exhibition games in Atlanta before traveling to Philadelphia.
As of late Monday morning, the remaining games scheduled for the day were to be played as scheduled, according to a baseball official with knowledge of the MLB's plans.
The outbreak, particularly this early in the 60-game season, is baseball’s worst nightmare.
There were only nine players who tested positive throughout all of baseball the past two weeks, and just 29 players and staff members (0.1%) have tested positive since baseball re-started, but the litmus test was always going to be how healthy teams could stay once started to travel.
Well, after just three days, the answer is ominous.
The game will go on, for now, but MLB has no choice but to be on high alert and cancel further games if there’s even a scent of an outbreak.
In hindsight, MLB never should have permitted the Marlins to take the field Sunday against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park after three players tested positive for COVID-19, just two days after another player tested positive.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly said the team never considered not playing, but it is now clear that was a mistake and has put the entire season in jeopardy.
Now we'll see if any members of the Phillies test positive after being on the same field at Citizens Bank Park.
“We sent a text out to our players and made sure that they knew what was going on,’’ Phillies manager Joe Girardi said Sunday. “We’re constantly reminding the guys. I mean, you have to be safe. You can’t really have a lot of contact with other people because you put everybody in danger.”
No wonder why Phillies star outfielder Bryce Harper wore a mask on the field for the first time.
Certainly, the Marlins’ outbreak is creating fear throughout the industry. How many more players will now opt-out? Will Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout, the face of the game, opt out with his wife expecting their first child on Aug. 3? If Trout doesn't play, how many will follow?
“They can honestly refuse not to play, right?’’ Marlins manager Don Mattingly said Sunday. “Everybody could opt out today. Again, I think we’re getting down the road, but I think there are discussions.
“I think it’s fair to say that guys are concerned about things and they want their feelings to be heard. I think it’s fair. We’re talking about health, traveling back to their homes and their families and their kids. It’s a reason we want to be safe. They have a voice.”
You can’t blame MLB and the players association for trying. Everyone wanted to see this work. The players. The owners. The fans. TV networks.
Yet, no matter how much the safety measures and procedures are followed, no matter how many tests are given every other day, COVID-19 refuses to be stopped.
The baseball season is at a crossroads. It shouldn’t be cancelled yet. But it’s day-to-day. One more team outbreak, and it may be impossible, if not irresponsible, to continue.
The ugliest words in baseball are now hovering over the entire industry: “Wait ‘Til Next Year.’’