Another Miami Marlins player tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number in his travel group to 18, sources confirmed to ESPN.
Major League Baseball had already postponed all Marlins games until Sunday after the team’s recent outbreak.
“It is very prudent to allow the Marlins to focus on providing care to their players and planning their baseball operations to resume early next week,” the league said in a statement.
The Marlins have stayed in Philadelphia, where they played last weekend and underwent daily testing. Sixteen players and two employees have tested positive.
No Phillies player or coach has tested positive in the past two days, a source told ESPN, but a clubhouse assistant did.
The postponements announced Tuesday were among a series of scheduling changes involving four other teams as a result of the consequences of the Marlins’ positive tests. Athletic was the first to report this last positive test.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the ESPN Daily podcast that he actually believes MLB “has handled it well, to be honest with you, as they have done virtually everything they could to try to achieve the main objective … was to protect the health and well-being of the players and the personnel associated with the team. “
He added: “When I had a discussion with some of the officials from different teams, as well as MLB in general, we reviewed the different types of protocols that they would need … the tests and things. One of the things that came up as a big concern What happens if a group of players gets infected and how are you going to handle that? So it was a consideration.
“I think we will have to take it day by day, week by week.”
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