COVID-19 impact on MLB season

[owbc]

 

The Marlins knew of their health issues, went out there, and played. The players wanted to play and did so.

 

People can blame Manfred, but it is foolish to think these players care more about protecting their health than making money. Price can blame Manfred, but watch every team around the league not social distance in the dugout, on the field, giving high fives, and many more things. I can only imagine what they do when they aren’t on TV.

 

Manfred is not the cause of any outbreak across the league. That’s on the players and teams not taking enough precautions.

 

Exactly, and they spent months quibbling over money and refused a bubble. Price can step off his soapbox.

 

The contract negotiations are a bit of an aside here, the bigger issue IMO is that the agreed-upon procedures were not followed and my question is why MLB didn't step in and cancel the game yesterday. As well as the obvious breaches of protocol by players on the field.

 

The MLB season probably rests on whether the Phillies come back with a bunch of positive tests or not. If it can spread from team to team during a game then it's probably over.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I think it depends. If the Phillies come back with 9 positives then we're toast.

[Eye Black]

From Jeff Passan: The Baltimore Orioles are returning home from Miami tonight, sources tell ESPN, ensuring Tuesday's game won't be played at Marlins Park, either.

 

At some point, the healthy Marlins are expected to travel to Baltimore, where they were scheduled to play Wednesday and Thursday.

 

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From Scott Miller: The MLB hope is to regroup today as Marlins remain quarantined in Philly &, depending on today's test results, team would bus to Baltimore & play tomorrow's game there instead of Miami w/others from "taxi squad" joining club there and subbing in, according to industry sources

[Eye Black]

One logistical piece that sort of fascinates me is a dozen or more infected Marlins are going to reportedly be spending the next 14 days in their luxury hotel in Philadelphia. I am sure other teams (as well members of the general public) are supposed to stay at that same hotel over the next two weeks. I'm curious how the team and the hotel are going to manage that difficult situation.

[wildcat83]

I would be real curious to know if the Korean League and Euro soccer broadcasts show much different social distancing concepts. Their countries have handled it better and I’d bet their athletes did as well.

 

Our population as a whole has not adapted. We “locked down” with daily trips to work, stores, gas stations, etc. We rebel against masks and flock to bars as soon as they were open. The town next to me had off road races this past weekend that drew 25,000 people.

 

For MLB specifically, just on broadcasts I’ve seen players without masks in the dugout, high fives, hand shakes, spitting.

 

Americans as a whole are a spoiled society who will not be inconvenienced. MLB has followed suit. We don’t have the society structure to stop the spread no matter what political party. It’s not political, it’s culture. MLB leaders had to know this coming in, which is why I think they will play through it baring someone getting seriously ill.

[RobertR]

I'm not going to overreact at this point, other than to say that I hope it didn't spread to the Phillies.

 

That said, it seems fitting that it's the Marlins dragging down MLB.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Americans as a whole are a spoiled society who will not be inconvenienced.

 

Threads are beginning overlap here but the lack of consistent messaging from the overlords did not help this at all. However, I could have told you that the US was built to handle this miserably. There aren't a lot of countries that have a vastly different culture within their own borders simply by traveling 40 miles from one spot to another.

 

It's one of the reasons I've been more on the side of letting the chips fall where they may. It's that not I think it's what's best, it's that I'm a realist first and foremost and I have no confidence in our culture to do what would have been necessary to stop this at the start.

[Eye Black]

I think it's probably unlikely that Phillies players have been infected from their limited contact with the Marlins, but I think it's highly likely there are more members of the Marlins that have been infected, but have yet to test positive.

[TURBO]

Tyler Kepner of the New York Times reports that MLB has no plans to cancel or suspend the season as a result of the Marlins' COVID-19 outbreak.

 

Multiple national baseball reporters have essentially conveyed the same message. Per Joel Sherman of the New York Post, MLB owners completed their weekly call earlier today and cancellation wasn't on the table. Commissioner Rob Manfred would have the final say regarding the viability of a season. The Marlins' situation is bad for a variety of reasons, but MLB is going to do their best to manage it for now. If the outbreak moves into another clubhouse, it's hard to see how this continues.

 

SOURCE: Tyler Kepner on Twitter

Jul 27, 2020, 2:31 PM ET

 

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Like it won't get into another clubhouse during the next 57 games... That is an automatic, it's gonna happen, probably sooner rather than later...

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I think that sentence meant that if THAT outbreak gets into another clubhouse (Philly) it's a new conversation. There will be more positive tests. The game is how fast you identify and contain them. 14 cases is not containing.

[MrTPlush]

I’m surprised not a single team has the leadership to take extreme social distancing measures and really go out of their way to limit exposure. Having little to no coronavirus concerns could be the difference between the postseason (and postseason money) and sitting at home. An outbreak within a team could be season crippling. Doesn’t seem like many actually care about winning it all, just happy to be playing for that paycheck.

 

Our supposed $200mil leader doesn’t even wear one and honestly the number of Brewers wearing one seems real low. Most of them seem to have kids and specifically younger ones? Someone should tell Braun it is pointless to wear a mask if he takes it off to talk to someone he is bumping elbows with every 10 seconds.

 

They act like they got their 60 game paycheck and the quicker they spread coronavirus through the league the sooner they can go back home. If the season ends don’t they lose that prorated portion they never play? Players were wearing masks a lot before and during summer camp...now it looks like they don’t care about social distancing and masks.

 

There is no accountability from MLB, but the players aren’t holding each other accountable either. For all the laughing about the NBA snitching phone line they don’t seem to have a team with 14 positive cases either.

[SomewhereInTime]

Do any of the 14 even have symptoms?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

There are a lot of assumptions in that post. We really wouldn't know which teams are taking it more seriously than others. There could be teams with their own internal policies/strong suggestions as to where you go and who you meet with. If Christian Yelich is isolating on his own time it doesn't make much of a difference if he adheres to a strict mask policy. If the team is constantly isolated among itself the actual importance of the masks declines.

 

There's definitely room for improvement based on the games I saw this weekend. But we just don't really know who's doing what off the clock. For all we know 10 Marlins went to a nightclub last week.

[Fear The Chorizo]

14 cases is not containing.

 

I doubt the final tally of this stays at 14 cases, but regardless 14 cases is maybe 1% of the MLB player/coach/staff routine testing pool. Suspending a season because a good chunk of 1 team had a bunch of positive cases over a weekend is akin to MLB sticking their collective head in the sand and giving up before they really ever started trying to play a reduced season in this environment, IMO. Now, had these same 14 cases been spread across 6-8 teams playing in 3-4 MLB cities following opening weekend and the uncertainty of how many other players in almost a third of the league's teams were about to test positive 2-4 days from now, then you've got a more alarming issue.

 

Given the fact this Marlins "outbreak" likely began in ATL with the Marlins' final exhibition game before the season even started, the level of frequent testing required to identify a bunch of cases amongst one organization after just a 3 game series is actually pretty good given the varied incubation time for coronavirus following an exposure that has the potential to result in a positive COVID case. The season would be toast had another week to 10 days gone by with the Marlins and Phillies playing games against 2-3 more teams and suddenly most of the teams along the AL/NL east block of teams would have potential exposures.

 

It's only been a couple days, but have any of these Marlins' organization cases even experienced symptoms that would cause individuals to require COVID testing in just about any other workplace/setting outside of professional sports aside from a prejob screening or preprocedure medical screening? To me this should be a lesson-learning experience on how limited population-wide test tracing measures are when trying to track asymptomatic/mild case spread on a community level amongst young and able-bodied people.

 

MLB has no choice but to deal with managing the Marlins' situation using the procedures they have put into place with expanded rosters and seeing how things shake out over the next few days. This won't be the last time this happens, and as ugly as this looks right now the testing protocols have worked as well as they could to limit spread. Something like this probably gets traced back to an asymptomatic spreader on their flight from ATL-Philly, or their trainer having it, or a yet to be revealed night out at a club for a handful of people in the Marlins' organization that has nothing to do with the game between the lines.

 

Most of them seem to have kids and specifically younger ones?

 

Specific to COVID, I'd be much more worried about players who live with and care for their parents/elderly relatives.

[BruisedCrew]

Wisconsin is now being added to Chicago’s travel quarantine requirements starting Friday. WI has the honor of being the first state with a team in the AL or NL Central to make that list.

 

We now have to see if the city will grant an exemption (as allowed by its rules) to permit players going from Milwaukee to Chicago to play without a 14 day quarantine.

[FVBrewerFan]

I didn't realize the Marlins were in ATL right before the season started. Reason for Marlins Covid outbreak WHOAA SOLVVD.

[homer]

It's 14 cases on one team. That is not containing the disease. If it was 14 cases across many teams you'd still have it contained. As it stands, the Marlins may not be able to field a team. Maybe they can field one but that assumes this thing hasn't spread to additional players. If one team can't play at all that has big ripple effects in terms of scheduling.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

It's 14 cases on one team. That is not containing the disease. If it was 14 cases across many teams you'd still have it contained. As it stands, the Marlins may not be able to field a team. Maybe they can field one but that assumes this thing hasn't spread to additional players. If one team can't play at all that has big ripple effects in terms of scheduling.

 

Exactly what I was saying. It has nothing to do with the % of total MLB players = 14. It's way too many guys on one team.

[adambr2]

I would have added provisions for where you can just cancel games without rescheduling when things like this occur down to a minimum of 50 or so games per team, then still take the 8 per league on winning percentage.

 

It would not have been the cleanest way of doing it but at least with no fans it wouldn't be logistically difficult.

[AZBrewCrew]

You can put all the policies into place you want, but at the end of the day millionaires gonna millionaire. They are going to get paid for 60 games regardless if they actually play 60 games.

[homer]

I would have added provisions for where you can just cancel games without rescheduling when things like this occur down to a minimum of 50 or so games per team, then still take the 8 per league on winning percentage.

 

It would not have been the cleanest way of doing it but at least with no fans it wouldn't be logistically difficult.

 

Yeah I mean it's not like this season isn't chalk full of weird fly but he seat of your pants rule changes anyway.

[djoctagone]

four more marlins players test positive. i've lost count.

[dpapo]

I feel like for all the rules and protocols that MLB has put into place, there aren't doing just the basics in trying to prevent an outbreak of cases like the Marlins situation. If the US hadn't and still is doing such a poor job dealing with the spread of Covid-19, then maybe it wouldn't be as important to take some of the most basic steps in trying to prevent an outbreak among players on a team. However, since the US hasn't been able to do what South Korea, most of the European Countries, etc... have done, then just some basic steps would at least help.

First, why are all the players next to each in the dugout without most wearing masks. There aren't any fans in the stadiums so teams can spread some of the players out into the stands for better social distancing.

Second, why aren't most players in the dugout not wearing masks. Everyone who is not on the field should be wearing a mask. And the first baseman should be wearing a mask as well.

Once again, covid-19 is not under control in the US, so you have to assume that players are going to catch it and are going to spread it to teammates.

Third, still seeing high fives and other type of activities that I thought weren't supposed to be allowed. Need to really stress to players over and over again, that it's not allowed.

Fourth, come to the stadium already dressed in your uniform and leave with your uniform on after the game so you don't have players hanging around one another after the games. Unless teams are able to keep players 6 feet from one another and wearing masks at all times, meaning no showering at the stadiums as well.

Maybe you wont' have another Marlins situation, but I think those are some very basic steps that could help prevent it and should definitely be tried if we ever get to the point where they are thinking about cancelling the season. Hopefully it's doesn't occur and things go mush smother going forward, but I feel like MLB would end up canceling the season before putting in place what I think are just some common basic steps that could be taken.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Mirroring the previous poster's thoughts. Just watching the guys in the dugout sitting next to each other, high-fiving, slapping each other, unless they really get a lockdown on this and start actually enforcing the rules they said they were going to enforce I don't see any way that we have another Marlin situation, honestly within the next two weeks.

 

with everyone sitting next to each other and high-fiving and everything that they're doing if one guy has it every single guy on the team is exposed in the three and a half to four hours they're spending in that dugout and clubhouse. They put out a document with this list of safety protocols they were going to follow and they're following none of them. This season isn't going to make it to the end of August if they have a couple more outbreaks.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Mirroring the previous poster's thoughts. Just watching the guys in the dugout sitting next to each other, high-fiving, slapping each other, unless they really get a lockdown on this and start actually enforcing the rules they said they were going to enforce I don't see any way that we have another Marlin situation, honestly within the next two weeks.

 

with everyone sitting next to each other and high-fiving and everything that they're doing if one guy has it every single guy on the team is exposed in the three and a half to four hours they're spending in that dugout and clubhouse. They put out a document with this list of safety protocols they were going to follow and they're following none of them. This season isn't going to make it to the end of August if they have a couple more outbreaks.

 

The Brewers seem particularly lax in keeping up with these measures. Though the Cubs weren't great either. The Pirates looked to me, at least last night, to have most of the coaching staff masked at least.

 

This is all just a big mess. And pretty emblematic of the entire pandemic from my perspective. There is an urge to get that feeling of normalcy, and who can blame anyone for that? But the virus is quick to capitalize. Hope for the best, I suppose. We'll see how MLB's protocols work and what they do over the next few days to a week. I have a feeling this will again be a sort of test balloon for other areas of society in one way or another.