Say it ain’t so!!!! Believe it or not, just a few days into the shortened 2020 Major League Baseball season… a near catastrophe has hit MLB.
Aftera coronavirus outbreak among Miami Marlins players, the League was prompted to announce it would postpone the team’s home opener against the Baltimore Orioles.
Fact vs. Fiction
“It is not hyperbole to suggest that the Marlins season and the league’s entire 2020 campaign are now imperiled.”
Jeff Passan | ESPN Columnist
Like a storyline from The Walking Dead, we now just refer to the “players” not by name or number, but simply just as “The Infected.”
So, with new updates about “The Infected,” The Marlins games have been postponed through Sunday. So… why did this happen? It’s simple, the number of players and coaches testing positive for Covid-19 just jumped. Originally it was 1, then it jumped to 4, then to 13 and as of today it’s 17 players and coaches having this dreaded infectious disease.
As a result of the infections, the Marlins barely has enough “un-infected” players to put together a basketball pick-up game. There’s just no way they can complete major league roster and remain competitive, that’s reality of today’s announcement.
That reality is the likely consideration as to why these games were temporarily whacked.
There’s another perspective, the League perspective. Earlier today the League said that “it’s time to focus on providing care for their players and planning their Baseball Operations for a resumption early next week.” So, there’s that… and maybe Dodgers pitcher David Price had a point. Recently, Price criticized MLB Commissioner, Rob Manfred for not making player health and safety the number one priority.
Price cited this as one major reason he opted out of the 2020 season. Some disagree with Price and his comments, whereas some say he has a point.
So, what’s the fallout so far? Tuesday’s game between the New York Yankees and the Phillies has also been postponed. That gives both teams time to evaluate their squads. An MLB spokesperson said the game was postponed “out of an abundance of caution.”
So how do these developments impact the rest of the season, or do they? It’s put a spotlight on the viability of a full season for sure. We’ll need to keep an eye on all players League-wide to see what happens to their test results and if the teams can field competitive rosters. An asterisk is one thing, but putting out a sub-par product is just not going to work… so there’s that.
How did this happen? It’s hard to say, is it a coincidence that Florida over the weekend became the state with the second-highest official Coronavirus case count, surpassing New York (the country’s epicenter early in the pandemic). It’s possible… or maybe it was inevitable? Hard to say at this point. One thing is certain, Covid-19 may have the final say-so on how this season pans out.
Bottom-line, the abbreviated MLB season has been fan-free. It has new rules, some may stick around, some may not. But, the integrity of the game may be in jeopardy as a result of this developing story.
Hopefully, this is as bad as it will get, or maybe we’re all living in a wishful bubble. Only time will tell how this will pan out for players, fans and the league’s reputation. We’ll keep you posted!
