Miami Marlins Postpone Baseball Games Due to Coronavirus Outbreak on Team
The Miami Marlins are on the bench for a few days. The team announced on July 28 that their season will be paused until Sunday, August 2, due to the coronavirus outbreak. After baseball's highly anticipated return amid the pandemic, at least 17 players and coaches on the Marlins have contracted COVID-19, according to ESPN.
"Major League Baseball announced today that all games on the Miami Marlins' schedule have been postponed through Sunday (BAL @ MIA tonight, MIA @ BAL Wednesday and Thursday, and WSH @ MIA Friday through Sunday)," the statement from MLB read. "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."
The coronavirus outbreak also caused the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies to adjust their schedule. "In addition, out of an abundance of caution, the remainder of the home-and-home series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees has been postponed (NYY @ PHI tonight, and PHI @ NYY Wednesday and Thursday). As a result of these postponements, the Yankees will now play the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on Wednesday and Thursday in order to create more scheduling flexibility later in the season. Additional rescheduling during the week of August 3 will be announced later this week.
"The health and safety protocols were designed with a challenging circumstance like the one facing the Marlins in mind," the MLB's statement continued. "The response outlined in the joint MLB-MLBPA Operations Manual was triggered immediately upon learning of the cluster of positive cases, including contact tracing and the quarantining and testing of all of the identified close contacts. The Marlins' personnel who tested positive remain in isolation and are receiving care.
"In over 6,400 tests conducted since Friday, July 24th, there have been no new positives of on-field personnel from any of the other 29 Clubs. This outcome is in line with encouraging overall data since the June 27th start of testing. Through last Thursday, July 23rd, 99 of the 32,640 samples – 0.3% – had been positive.
"The difficult circumstances of one Club reinforce the vital need to be diligent with the protocols in all ways, both on and off the field. We will continue to bolster our protocols and make any necessary adjustments. The realities of the virus still loom large, and we must operate with that in mind every day. We are confident that Clubs and players will act appropriately, for themselves and for others, and the data provides reason to believe that the protocols can work effectively."
On July 27, it was revealed that 14 players and coaches tested positive for the coronavirus, canceling their home opener against the Baltimore Orioles. As a result, the July 27 and July 28 New York Yankees games in Philadelphia against the Phillies was also postponed, since the Yankees would have used the same clubhouse and dugout that the Marlins did over the weekend.
ESPN reported on July 28 that the majority of the Washington National players voted against traveling to Miami for their upcoming three-game series against the Marlins this weekend.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred spoke about the Marlins COVID-19 outbreak on July 27.
"A team losing a number of players that rendered it completely noncompetitive would be an issue that we would have to address and have to think about making a change," Manfred told the MLB Network. "Whether that was shutting down a part of the season, the whole season, that depends on the circumstances.
"Same thing with respect to league-wide," he continued. "You get to a certain point league-wide where it does become a health threat, and we certainly would shut down at that point."
As of Tuesday morning, over 4.29 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported in the United States.
