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Report: Marlins Home Opener Canceled Amid Covid-19 Outbreak At Clubhouse
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The Major League Baseball season is less than a week old, but one team has already experienced a coronavirus outbreak that will put them off their roster and led to a game being canceled. The Miami Marlins, who had four positive players in their first series against the Philadelphia Phillies, had eight additional players and two positive coaches on Monday, less than 12 hours before they were supposed to play their first game against the Baltimore Orioles, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
That means the Marlins have had at least 14 people infected in the past few days. In response to the outbreak, the Marlins’ game against the Orioles on Monday night will not be played, confirmed Baltimore general manager Mike Elias. The Phillies, who hosted the Marlins over the weekend at Citizens Bank Park, also postponed their game Monday night against the Yankees.
MLB issued the following statement:
Games scheduled for tonight between the Miami Marlins and the Baltimore Orioles at Marlins Park and the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees at Citizens Bank Park have been postponed while Major League Baseball conducts additional COVID-19 tests. Members of the Marlins’ tour group self-quarantine while awaiting the results of those results. Major League Baseball has been coordinating with the Major League Baseball Players Association; the marlins; the Orioles the Marlins’ weekend opponent, the Phillies; and the Club’s medical staff, and will continue to provide updates as appropriate.
Marlins CEO Derek Jeter also released a statement saying postponing Monday night’s game was “the right decision.” Jeter added that the team will remain in Philadelphia until it receives another round of test results, which are expected on Monday.
Here are four additional things you should know about this story.
Who has been affected?
Four people agreed to allow the Marlins to reveal their positive test before Monday’s news: catcher Jorge Alfaro, outfielders Garrett Cooper and Harold Ramírez, and pitcher José Ureña, who was scratched before his start on Sunday.
Where are the Marlins, Orioles?
The Marlins have not left Philadelphia. They had planned to leave on Sunday night after the game, but changed their plans to leave on Monday. However, that flight did not take off.
The Orioles, meanwhile, appear to be in Miami. Outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. tweeted that the plane was leaving on Sunday night. That follows normal operating procedures that see teams arriving the night before rather than the morning of games.
Are the Phillies at risk of a similar outbreak?
Because the Marlins almost certainly had guys testing positive over the weekend, it’s fair to wonder if the Phillies might be at risk for a similar outbreak.
According to what is known about COVID-19, the greatest risk of infection is spending a long time in closed or poorly ventilated areas with large crowds and in an intimate way. In other words, playing a (mostly) fleeting outdoor baseball game doesn’t seem like a situation that should trigger transmission from one individual to another, at least not on another team.
Athletic spoke to a couple of infectious disease experts who agreed that the probability of transmission from the Marlins to the Phillies was “low.” Of course, “low” doesn’t mean zero, and Phillies players (and Yankees players, if asked to dress in the same club as the Marlins) are right to be nervous about the situation at hand.
Will the season be canceled?
This is an unknowable question at the moment, in part because there are no clear guidelines on what would trigger the season. Again, as The Athletic noted, the decision rests with Commissioner Rob Manfred, and himself.
Apparently, if the season remains in place, then more players may choose not to participate rather than expose themselves and their loved ones to the possibility of a similar outbreak at their clubhouse.
