The Washington Nationals are slated to play a three-game series against the Marlins in Miami this weekend. The same Marlins who, as you know, are having something right now. The Nationals, however, don’t want to go: Ken Rosenthal just reported that “In the team vote, the vast majority of Nationals players voted against going to Miami for a three-game series this weekend.
This is a huge problem for Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball.
To be clear: In accordance with the March Agreement and subsequent health and safety protocols agreed upon by MLB-MLBPA, teams do not have the power to simply not play if they believe it is unsafe. That power rests with Rob Manfred and the clubs. If the vote by the Nationals players leads them to simply decide not to get on the bus to the airport after their game against the Blue Jays on Thursday night, they will technically engage in a savage strike.
To what I say: good for them.
As we have noted in the past twenty-four hours, Major League Baseball appears to have abdicated its role in making these kinds of decisions. The Marlins, as reported, decided to play Sunday in a group message. Since then, baseball has reacted, postponing some games, but it is unclear what philosophy is guiding them. If Nationals players don’t feel safe playing that series, they shouldn’t play that series. If it takes them to make that decision for themselves instead of waiting for Major League Baseball to do so, so be it.
Meanwhile, the vote for the Nationals players creates a big problem for Rob Manfred. If you order the Nationals to play in Miami, regardless of your feelings about it, you will look like a dictator who cares little about the player’s health and will lose the trust that the players have in him. If he allows the Nationals to rest during the trip, on the other hand, he has formally ceded his power over the schedule to the rosters of all thirty teams.
I think this will happen in the next few days in a lot of conference calls after which some kind of compromise is announced that makes it all seem like the league is handling this according to plan. But make no mistake, the fact that a team votes on whether to play or not, and the fact that they leak it to the press, is strong evidence that there is no plan here. Or, at least, that the players do not have confidence in any plan that exists.
TO UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal reports that MLB is brainstorming about this:
A scenario under discussion, according to a source with direct knowledge: Marlins, Phillies would be quarantined for an undetermined period. The Yankees would travel to Baltimore and play the Orioles on Wednesday and Thursday. Marlins, Phillies would try to make up the postponed games later.
– Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 28, 2020
Such a plan would serve to validate the Nationals’ vote, at least in effect.
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