HOUSTON — Let’s be honest.
If the New York Yankees had 15 players test positive for COVID-19 and their season was halted for a week, would we still be playing baseball?
How about if the Los Angeles Dodgers or any other big-market team had the same outbreak?
But since it’s the Miami Marlins, the 2020 season goes on.
With 15 players having tested positive and now sidelined until at least Aug. 4, the Marlins have become the guinea pigs in Major League Baseball’s attempt to play a competitive season in the middle of a pandemic.
Commissioner Rob Manfred wasted no time and immediately set up additional safety measures, and reminded club officials that their players and staff better take their protocols seriously or the season could abruptly end.
MLB is instructing teams to issue stronger, protective masks to their players and staff members. They will reinforce the protocols that players engage in social distancing, which means no high-fives or fist-bumps – let alone celebratory hugs. And, under no condition, are players permitted to stray from the team hotel on the road to frequent a restaurant, a club, or anywhere else but the hotel’s team dining room.
Marlins CEO Derek Jeter noted in a statement Tuesday that the team had "conducted a successful and healthy Spring 2.0 before departing on the road and experiencing challenges."
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Among the 6,400 tests conducted since last Friday. the Marlins are the only team who had positive test results, MLB said Tuesday. And only 0.3% of all tests since the start of summer workouts have been positive.
“The difficult circumstances of one club reinforce the vital need to be diligent with the protocols in all ways, both on and off the field,’’ MLB said in a statement. “We will continue to bolster our protocols and make any necessary adjustments. The realities of the virus still loom large, and we must operate with that in mind every day.
“We are confident that clubs and players will act appropriately, for themselves and for others, and the data provides reason to believe that the protocols can work effectively.’’
The Marlins, whether they were careless or not, already are impacting the integrity of the MLB schedule.
It may be impossible for every NL East and AL East team to play a 60-game schedule. The Marlins’ entire week of games has been postponed. They won’t play again until Tuesday, Aug. 4, at home against the Philadelphia Phillies – and that's the best-case scenario.
But that appears unlikely as Miami mayor Carlos Gimenez announced Tuesday that the Marlins should adhere to a 14-day quarantine protocol when returning to South Florida having been knowingly exposed to COVID-19.
The juggling act may force MLB to determine playoff berths simply on team’s winning percentages, and not records.
Certainly, it has caused massive chaos in the schedule. The Yankees, who spent the past two days in Philadelphia, never played a game. They were supposed to play two on the road against the Phillies and then travel home to New York for two more.
Now, they will instead travel to Baltimore by bus to play the Orioles, who originally were supposed to be playing the Marlins. The Nationals, who were supposed to play the Marlins this weekend in Miami – and players voted not to play before MLB’s official announcement – now will have the entire weekend off. The Phillies will now resume play Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays at Citizens Bank Park, but as the visiting team.
The baseball world has been turned upside down by the Marlins, but the show goes on – for now.
“There are obviously a lot of concerns,’’ Washington Nationals manager Davey Martinez said. “It’s tough. I revert back to why we stopped playing in March. Think about it. We stopped playing because of the pandemic. So it’s tough, here we are in the middle of the pandemic, and we’re trying to do the best we can to keep these guys safe and healthy and actually play baseball.’’
Cubs star Anthony Rizzo, a cancer survivor, sent a text message to Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto asking about the Reds' positive COVID-19 tests before taking the field for a game Monday.
Player representatives for every team had a conference call Monday with the union, trying to navigate how to play through a pandemic that’s only picking up steam, while several players like Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun, are now contemplating whether to opt out.
“It’s disturbing, it’s upsetting,’’ Braun said. “It’s a reminder of how precarious the situation is that were in.
“There’s real fear and anxiety for all of us.’’
The owners had their own conference call with Manfred calling for calm in the middle of this storm, but at no time talked about shutting down the season.
“I think most of the owners realize that we built protocols anticipating that we would have positive tests at some point during the season,’’ Manfred said, “that the protocols were built in order to allow us to continue to play through those positives. I think there was support for the notion that we believe that the protocols are adequate to keep our players safe.”
MLB and the players association can have all of the safety and health protocols they want, but as Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker says, “nobody’s the police around here, but we have to adhere to these protocols if we’re going to make it through this season and be safe.’’
But the biggest takeaway may be that it only it takes one team to shake up the entire league.
And while it appears for now that the Marlins can't shut down a season by themselves, they sure came close.
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July 29, 2020 at 04:59AM
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Opinion: What if the Marlins were the Yankees? MLB letting Miami be guinea pigs with COVID-19 outbreak - USA TODAY
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