The 2020 season is not even a week old and already MLB has a COVID-19 crisis on its hands. As many as 17 members of the Miami Marlins, including 15 players, have tested positive in recent days. The outbreak forced Monday's and Tuesday's games in Miami and Philadelphia, where the Marlins played this past weekend, to be postponed. More postponements could happen as well.
In an effort to minimize disruption to the season while containing the outbreak, MLB will revise the schedule and isolate the Marlins and Phillies for a period of time, according to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal. Both clubs are currently undergoing additional testing and it's unclear when they will be able to play again, especially the Marlins, who have lost half their active roster.
Miami's season has been temporarily halted until at least Monday, Aug. 3, according to Marlins reporter Craig Mish. The Phillies will be shut down until at least Friday, Tyler Kepner of the New York Times reports. MLB has not yet confirmed the news. The strongest plan, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, calls for the Marlins to be shut down for the time being so they can regroup and adjust their roster as necessary.
The Marlins were scheduled to play a three-game series against the Nationals this weekend. The vast majority of Nationals players have voted not to travel to Miami for safety reasons, though MLB has the final call.
The Yankees and Orioles are bystanders in the outbreak. The Yankees were scheduled to play four games with the Phillies this week (two in Philadelphia and two in New York) while the Orioles were scheduled to play four games with the Marlins (two in Miami and two in Baltimore). The revised schedule would have the Yankees and Orioles play Wednesday and Thursday rather than sit idle.
If the upcoming schedule gets revised, MLB would try to make up all postponed games later in the season via doubleheaders and eliminating off-days. If it's not possible, MLB is prepared to allow teams to finish the season with an unequal number of games played, and determine the postseason field with winning percentage, according to Sherman.
That would not be ideal, obviously, but there is precedent. Teams finished with an unequal number of games around the 1981 strike -- some teams played as many as 111 games that season while others played as few as 103 -- and the standings were based on winning percentage. In these adverse times, a similar strategy would be warranted this year.
COVID-19 carries up to a 14-day incubation period with a median of five days, meaning if any Phillies players and personnel were exposed during the Marlins series over the weekend, it may not show up on Monday's and Tuesday's tests. The safest approach would be waiting another few days and retesting before allowing the club to resume play.
Despite the outbreak, commissioner Rob Manfred said Monday the owners have not yet seriously discussed canceling the season. The league believes it has mechanisms in place (60-man roster, taxi squad, etc.) to manage an outbreak and continue play. Now MLB is apparently prepared to revise the schedule on the fly to make it work.
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July 29, 2020 at 01:36AM
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MLB to shut down Marlins and Phillies, revise schedule amid COVID-19 outbreak, reports say - CBS Sports
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