Major League Baseball temporarily suspended the Miami Marlins’ season until Sunday after 15 players and two coaches tested positive for COVID-19 this week.
“Given the current circumstances, MLB believes that it is most prudent to allow the Marlins time to focus on providing care for their players and planning their Baseball operations for a resumption early next week,” said the MLB.
The Miami Marlins 2020 season at least temporarily, has been paused. This will allow the team to continue to monitor health and safety of players.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) July 28, 2020
The growing number of Marlins’ cases already caused the MLB to postpone some of this week’s games including the Miami Marlins vs. the Baltimore Orioles in Miami and the Philadelphia Phillies vs. the New York Yankees in Philadelphia. The Yankees will move on to play the Baltimore Orioles this week instead due to possible exposures by the Marlins to the Phillies from their games last week.
The Marlins will also have to make up three games against the Washington Nationals, who were scheduled but “a majority of Washington Nationals players voted against traveling to Miami to play a scheduled three-game series this weekend”
“I’m going to be honest with you: I’m scared,” Nationals Manager Dave Martinez said. “My level of concern went from about an eight to a 12. I mean this thing really hits home now. … I got guys in our clubhouse that are really concerned, as well.”
While it is still unknown if the postponed games will be made up later, the MLB is continuing to take precautions against the spread of COVID-19 with other teams. Commissioner Rob Manfred believes that policies like shortening the season by 102 games, keeping fans out of the stadiums, and banning “high-fives, fist bumps and spitting among players” will help “keep people safe.”
“Obviously, we don’t want any player to get exposed. It’s not a positive thing,” Manfred said. “But I don’t see it as a nightmare. … We think we can keep people safe and continue to play.”
Watch Commissioner Manfred's entire interview with Tom Verducci on MLB Tonight. pic.twitter.com/oAyJ1NoEyk
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 27, 2020
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci commended the MLB for their efforts, claiming that the Marlins situation was “unfortunate.”
“Major League Baseball — the players, the owners, the managers — have put a lot of effort into getting together and putting protocols that we feel would work,” Fauci said. “It’s very unfortunate what happened with the Miami (Marlins).”
