MLB left its cocoon and was forced immediately to confront a season-threatening crisis.
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 coronavirus is, how quickly a club could be susceptible to wide outbreak and the perils of playing this season.
The Marlins’ traveling party was held in Philadelphia and MLB postponed two Monday games: Miami’s home opener against Baltimore, and the Yankees games in Philadelphia. Marlins and Phillies’ personnel were re-tested Monday and were awaiting results no later than Tuesday morning to determine the next step. Marlins who tested positive will have to quarantine in their Philadelphia hotel rooms until provided medical clearance.
MLB held its now standard 30-owner conference call Monday afternoon and the decision was made to continue to play with the understanding that 60-player pools per team were created in anticipation of an outbreak, hope that the contagion in Philadelphia was limited to just the Marlins and belief that this will help reinforce safety and health protocols moving forward.
Still, questions lingered why Sunday’s game in Philadelphia was played when it was known by Saturday night that four Marlins players tested positive. And the bigger issue is whether this was an isolated outbreak or the beginning of many that forces MLB to shut down since this country has yet to contain the virus?
“I would say when you get numbers like this, particularly from a Florida MLB team (in a COVID-19 hotbed), you start to ask yourself about the risks of continuing your business on a day-to-day basis,” said Dr. Joseph Kim, an infectious disease consultant at ID Care in New Jersey.
Dr. David Hirschwerk, an infectious disease expert at Northwell Health in New York, said, “The good thing is that the testing so far has shown less than 1 percent positive. The bad thing is that one team has a significant outbreak. Does it end at 13, or tomorrow do we learn that more are infected? I think [the season is] in jeopardy because the outbreak is fairly significant within this one squad and can potentially grow. One team is potentially decimated. And it’s not as if these players are going to come back tomorrow.”
As for the need to quarantine Phillies and Marlins players who test negative, Hirschwerk said, that was unnecessary as long as there wasn’t close contact with a person who tested positive (as per the CDC definition — living with someone, being within six feet of someone for 15 minutes or longer or having the person cough/sneeze on you).
MLB had produced optimistic test numbers going into the weekend. That predated the regular season that necessitates 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 further raises the ethical issue of playing.
That the virus incubates for several days and often carriers are asymptomatic means there is no way to know in real time 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 such as 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. That explains 60-man pools, 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 besides what they lost over the weekend 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). Loading the team with those from the satellite site will severely compromise Miami’s 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. Instead, MLB moves forward. Was this a one-time crisis or the beginning of a regular occurrence that will force a harder choice on continuing the season.
— Additional reporting by Ken Davidoff.