Major League Baseball has its first serious outbreak of COVID-19, and it has resulted in two games being postponed Monday.
According to Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers of ESPN, 11 of the 33 players the Marlins have traveled with this sesaon, and two coaches, have tested positive over the past few days. As a result, MLB has postponed the Monday's games between the Marlins and Orioles and the Phillies vs. Yankees to try to stop the spread. The Phillies played the Marlins in Philadelphia over the weekend.
Tuesday's game between the Marlins and Orioles seems all but officially cancelled, too, as the Orioles just left Miami. The two clubs are scheduled for a four-game home-and-home series this week.
SLATER SCOOP: The Baltimore Orioles now plan to leave Miami tonight, I've learned.
So, that means no game at Marlins Park tomorrow.
— Andy Slater (@AndySlater) July 27, 2020
MLB owners had a meeting Monday after the news, but there was no talk of cancelling the season.
Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Marlins knew their starting pitcher, Jose Urena, and two other players had tested positive Sunday morning and would be unable to play. However, the team still decided via a group text to play that day anyway.
The members of the Marlins’ traveling party are self-quarantining while awaiting the outcome of those results.
“The health of our players and staff has been and will continue to be our primary focus as we navigate through these unchartered waters," Marlins CEO Derek Jeter said in a released statement. "After a successful Spring 2.0, we have now experienced challenges once we went on the road and left Miami. Postponing tonight’s home opener was the correct decision to ensure we take a collective pause and try to properly grasp the totality of this situation. We have conducted another round of testing for our players and staff, and our team will all remain in Philadelphia pending the results of those tests, which we expect later today. We will provide additional information as soon as it becomes available.”
This is the first serious spike MLB has seen since summer camp got underway at the beginning of the month. On July 24, MLB and the players association jointly announced that out of 10,939 samples taken, just six, or 0.05%, were new positives.
Players are subject to tests every-other day, and results usually take 48-72 hours to get back.
Miami, and most of Florida, is a COVID-19 hot spot, as are several cities in the Eastern divisions, including New York City, Tampa and Atlanta.
The Pirates will not play anyone from the American or National League East this year. At one point it looked likely that the Blue Jays would share PNC Park since they cannot play in Toronto because of Canada's Quarantine Act, but Pennsylvania's Department of Health rejected the proposal last week.
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