1:45pm: In addition to the Phillies being paused through Friday and the Marlins being paused until Monday, the Orioles and Yankees are now indeed likely to play one another on Wednesday and Thursday, Sherman tweets. The Nationals, meanwhile, won’t have a game at all this weekend, since they’d been slated to play the Marlins.
1:26pm: The current plan is for the Marlins to be held out from playing until “at least” next Monday, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Incorporating doubleheaders and making use of some off-days could help to make up ground in the schedule, although with only a week’s worth of off-days worked into the existing schedule, there are some potential pitfalls with that approach as well.
12:58pm: The Phillies are expected to resume action against the Blue Jays on Friday, Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets.
12:52pm: The Marlins’ 2020 campaign has been “paused,” according to Craig Mish of Sports Grid (Twitter link). That development is part of an apparent effort on the part of Major League Baseball to tweak its schedule to account for the breakout of COVID-19 cases within the Miami organization.
With the Phillies also sidelined, at least for the short term, the league is left with two teams out of action. It’s considering a plan to match up those two organizations’ previously scheduled opponents — the Yankees and Orioles — in order to keep logging as many games as possible, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link).
While the Philadelphia organization doesn’t have any new positive tests to worry about, it recently took the field against the Marlins. The Phils will also be held back for at least some time as a result, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (Twitter links).
The idea, it seems, would be to get the Marlins and Phillies caught up on total contests later in the season. If they don’t quite make it to 60 total games, postseason qualification could still be determined by winning percentage. It isn’t clear exactly what standards the league will apply to determine when to resume action for these teams.
This on-the-fly scheduling construction is obviously fraught with difficulty. Many problems could end up being kicked down the road, particularly if the Marlins have further difficulties or the breakout turns out to have expanded to other organizations.
What a mess
Well i was looking forward to Orioles game
Royals are playing the tigers if you still want to watch a mess.
> Royals are playing the tigers
One of those teams will be 3-2 after tonight, and could move into first place.
(Oh, 2020, you are a mischief-maker.)
Andrew Fox is a hater
I guess the competition for Vandy pitchers in the 2021 MLB Draft can be interesting: Kumar Rocker (Tracy’s son) or Jack Leiter (Al’s son).
Well at least they went out on top
Yes, they experienced many positives in their brief season.
I see what you did there.
Lol!
This seems … unworkable. At least for more than a couple of days.
The Marlins won their opening series, are in first place, and have gone on pause. Maybe they’re just trying to lock in the best winning percentage in franchise history!
100 world series. Mic drop
Shut it down!
One team has an issue in the last month, mostly by not following protocols, and you want it shut down. How about you shut down?
Actually, US protocol in respect to this virus has been waiting until it’s too late. MLB would be wise to proactively shut it down rather than wait until the spread reaches an uncontrollable level. Better safe than sorry applies in this case. It’s about living scared. It’s about keeping people healthy.
They made a wise decision in adjusting the schedule on the fly. With no fans in attendance, what difference does a schedule which is already unbalanced make? Hope this outside the box thinking makes a difference although I doubt it. That said, why not adjust the schedule to move up rivalry local games where possible? In addition to avoiding travel for the moment, give fans what they want like Yankees-Mets, Cubs-White Sox, Cardinals-Royal, A’s-Giants and Dodgers-Angels games. Fans of those teams could at least enjoy bragging rights should the year end suddenly.
I think a lot of us are forgetting a lot of these players (and public for that matter) are testing positive for the virus without having any symptoms. There’s a difference between testing positive and being “sick”.
This is a recipe for disaster. Yes, shut the season down. If one team is affected, others will be too. To help stop the spread of this virus, individuals need to continue this distancing strategy and not interact with hundreds of others in multiple different cities.
Your schoolyard reply reflects the mindset of those that led the U.S. to its current pandemic state.
As comment #1 states:
“What a mess”
As Americans, it’s our right to go out in public, gather, and not wear a mask. Don’t tread on me fella.
The needs of the individual outweigh the needs of many?
I assume this is an attempt at humor. You can’t possibly be that stupid. Can you?
I wouldn’t be surprised
> As Americans, it’s our right to go out in public, gather, and not wear a mask.
Not true in a public health emergency. It hasn’t been true for 115 years. Please read the Wikipedia page for Supreme Court case Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905).
#AskACanadian
The idiocy makes me laugh sometimes but I have to be in the right mood. The way some people misinterpret the constitution as a means to do as they please without consequence is no laughing matter, though.
By that logic, perhaps he should consider the rights of others’ health and well being.
It’s also our right to protect ourselves and our families from morons who may get them sick or worse. But if you and your fellow clowns want to exercise the “rights” you mention, go ahead, but please stay away from the rest of us.
Wrong whitehouse, your right end when they infringe on others. An attitude like that will bring us back to the Wild West days. Why should mask less individuals rule the streets? What made this country great was independence but even with it, there are local, state and federal rules. We need a national plan like other countries.
Whitehouserep::which right is that. Is that in the constitution, is it one of the 27 amendments, or maybe it’s in the Articles of confederation but maybe it’s under SELF.
No! Don’t shut it down, MLB should reduce the regular season to 10 games and then start the play-offs. That’s what we’re all waiting for right?
Only 1 team has had a problem with this. Not shutting it down because 1 team can’t control their players.
I swear people are just copy/pasting this comment
Bound to happen. And it’ll likely happen to more teams down the road.
A fair comment but…
1) Leagues overseas have resumed successfully.
2) Those leagues resumed after daily infections had gone way down.
MLB resumed during the worst surge of the pandemic. Many of their teams should be able to finish the season if everyone is vigilant. And no one goes to Miami. Or hosts Miami.
1) Leagues overseas are in countries that have controlled their pandemic. We haven’t.
2) Daily infections for our country keep going up on a daily basis, Unless they quarantine all the players like the NBA is doing, we can expect more positive tests from players too.
We haven’t even finished the first week of the season and games are already postponed.
This will not have a good ending.
SoCal nailed it. The US is in bad shape and was not ready for this.
Well, interesting idea. Covid is not going away anytine soon, so figuring this stuff out now is the best chance to having a normal season in 2021. They should really not call the World Series that either. Maybe tournament champion, or something of the sort.
Not a bad thought. At the very least, the short season has given them an opportunity to see the impact of things they might not have considered, liked extended windows for makeup games. Maybe the answer for 2021 is a shorter schedule. Not 60 or 80, obviously. But maybe some number from 120 to 140, depending on how feasible it is to bring fans back to the ballpark.
These comments were thoughtful.
Fauci and other real experts don’t expect a vaccine until 2021, maybe not until spring. Starting the 2021 season late makes sense. I am good with 120 games.
Counterpoint to antibelt: I believe this year to have a significantly higher degree of difficulty, so any team that survives whatever the hell this is deserves a Super World Series.
Making rules as we go. Must’ve been what Abner Doubleday had to do when this great game started.
Abner Doubleday didn’t invent baseball and there’s no evidence that he ever stepped foot anywhere near Cooperstown where the debunked legend says he conjured the game out of thin air.
Are the odds 1,000,000-1 yet that they win the World Series and also can I borrow $5 from someone
10% of the winnings if you actually win that 1 in a million shot.
Works for me. Keep the season going. It’s entertainment, something people need right now. The Marlins weren’t going to be competitive anyway.
So as long as the team wasn’t going to be competitive their lives don’t matter. At least you’re entertained. I guess we have to wait until New York, LA, or Washington, or some other “good” team has an outbreak before we care.
Find your entertainment someplace else. Read a book. Learn a new skill. Create something. No one’s life should revolve around watching other people do things.
Where did he say his life revolved around watching baseball? If doing those things is so immensely enoyable to you, why are you mouthing off to strangers on a baseball website right now? You sound like an absolutely miserable human being.
The OP is suggesting it’s more important than health concerns, which it clearly is not. It’s typical selfishness.
Sure, it’s entertaining. But these players have people outside of baseball. Those people have people and those people have people too. Before we know it, paths will be crossed and far more than just players within the MLB will be affected.
Not so entertaining then.
History repeats itself. Professional teams unable to finish their season were common in the 1870’s.
A lot about today feels like that era.
Pushing games back and using double headers at end of season seems to be the easiest choice.
Whoever the Phillies and Marlins were scheduled to play next should just play each other.
Yankees play Orioles
Major League Baseball is having its Hans Brinker moment. Plug up one leak and another pops up. It must be difficult playing games in empty ballparks with all this swirling around. Another issue is injuries that stem from the stop-and-start nature of the pre-season. Every time a pitcher goes down, I can’t help but think that might be the reason. Some of these guys aren’t prepared for the rigors of a championship season.
Well thats fair if the Yanks just beat up on the orioles instead of playing a good team.
Just dont shut the season down. I dont care who plays who, i guess, if we get to keep watching.
It’s over. Every day we drag this out, it’s just worse and worse.
Everybody at MLB should be completely ashamed of themselves. Manfred gets the heat now because it’s his job to be a leader, but just a few weeks ago the players were fighting to play 100 or more games and they’re still considering filing a grievance over not getting that chance. How can anybody take this seriously? We have people’s lives at stake and MLB is considering more travel to “log as many games as possible”. Unbelievable!
Settle down there Nostradamus.
It’s not “more” travel.
Philly and Miami only play east coast teams, regional games.
Any changes to a team’s schedule most like involves cities they’d be playing at this year anyways.
Manfred has to lose his job. This is just a disaster — how was there no plan for this? How was a team left to make a decision that was so wrong that it threatens the whole season?
I agree, Manfred deserves most of the blame, but let’s not forget that the players are still planning to file a grievance over not getting the opportunity to play more games. They were asking for this too.
purplesteve, Excellent point. Both sides were motivated by money as opposed to public health.
Manfred does what the owners tell him to do.
Manfred could’ve done a better job but let’s not forget that it takes both the owners and players to come into an agreement to play. Every party knew about the associated risks of starting the season. None of this now comes as unexpected.
Tournament of survivors!
Players better start wearing masks, and social distancing, or this thing will spiral out of control pretty quick.
sounds like they’re doing a great job mitigating this. Kudos
Each team has a contact trace specialist I would love to know patient zero and how he got it.
Honestly, it probably started in spring training. The problem with C19 is the incubation/infection period. Everyone should know by now that a person can be spreading this around for 10 days before testing positive.
Just go back to those two chartered planes from the Dominican that did NOT require a 2 week quarantine OR test prior to boarding. Well done, MLB.
2017: Marlins were bought by Jeter, and started to sell off their great pieces for “very little”.
2018-19: People ridicule the Marlins for making the trades they made.
2020: Their roster is half-decent, and they have more good pieces coming up through the farm. This after everybody ridiculed them for trading for those guys.
Today: Marlins players go down with Corona after a good start against Philly, and now their schedule is being “re-adjusted” specifically to make them lose.
(This is all a joke. I hope all the Marlins players get well, and I hope they keep winning)
But, Marlins cause this by going to strip club in Atlanta while they were in Atlanta.
If covid was the only thing the marlins caught in an atlanta strip club they got off easy
Are you saying this is a conspiracy? Seriously?
It’s 2 wins after 105 loses . And the Marlins didn’t bring up anyone from the minors so they still gave up 3 all-star, 2 MVPs, and added who….?….
Anyone think that the MLB will grant the Marlins special transaction abilities so they can field a roster if they can return to games?
Maybe allow them to sign players to field a team without having to cut anyone that was on their roster before all of the positive tests.
they have very good waiver priority already, so that helps.
Briffle, that seems like a good solution to me. I’d be surprised if this doesn’t happen.
@Briffle
Players on the COVID-19 IL are temporarily off the 60-man roster, so the Marlins can easily add players. In fact, yesterday they claimed two MLB relievers off waivers and claimed another today.
Hurrah. With a .667 winning percentage, the Marlins should sail into the playoffs! That Mattingly is one crafty cat
LMAO that would be amazing to see play out
Field the rest of the players on the 60. Make them play the B squad while the top guys sit out. If it starts the clock on some guys, tough luck.
Agree with this. You’ve got 60 guys for a reason.
If you don’t want to play the prospects in this case you shouldn’t have put them in the 60 man pool.
Sucks what’s happening to Miami and I hope they all get well quick. But also shows how important it is to follow the rules and minimize your risk.
Not saying the Marlins didn’t follow the rules because I have no idea… but minimizing risk will be big for keeping your best team on the field.
great. detetmined by winning%. sucks because we are already 1-2, but if we dont have to play the Marlins again it’s a win.
I really think there are only two options here. Have the Marlins forfeit each game that they can’t field a healthy team for and for next year’s draft they should use the 2019 standings to determine the order. Otherwise they can reschedule as doubleheader’s but that’s risky having teams play so many games in such a condensed schedule.
Forfeiting would be blaming the Marlins for positive tests. That doesn’t seem fair. It also sets a bad precedent for the remainder of the season. For one, the Central and West teams wouldn’t pick up any of those wins unless it happens to one of their teams. What do you do, shut down the Tigers and Giants just to make it even?
They should be blaming the Marlins. Guys tested positive and the team decided to ignore that and just let them play, anyway. This fact is not getting enough attention. The Braves sat out their top 2 catchers because they had symptoms, not even a positive test. The Marlins allowed guys who tested positive to not only be around their teammates,but take the field against another team.
So you are going to reward the nine teams in the East and penalize the 20 in the Central and West? How does that protect the integrity of the season?
“The Marlins allowed guys who tested positive to not only be around their teammates,but take the field against another team.”
Are you sure about that? I’ve not read every word reported on this, but I thought every player who played had been cleared to play and had the most recent test was negative.
And many of them were found positive on the very next test. Not quarantining players was an obvious flaw in the procedure.
If they forfeit all those games that’s a huge advantage to NL and AL East teams (and even specific teams within those divisions) in the wild card races.
They likely can’t field a healthy team for at least a week, so the Nationals would just get 3 free wins this weekend? That’s like 10% of the wins they will probably need to make the playoffs. It’s totally unfair to the NL Central and West teams fighting for those spots. Having teams that don’t get to play all 60 games be sorted by winning percentage is at least more fair than that.
The Marlins should be forced to forfeit Sunday’s game which was against league protocols.
The fact that this kind of thing is happening 3 games into the season tells you it never should have been played. What a clusterphuck…
Relax sizzle-chest! We’re talking about one team. If similar outbreaks occur across multiple teams then perhaps your comment would have some merit.
This event should go down as a teaching moment. All contenders should see that not following protocol can result in wasting a season. Also, some players, their legacies, and future earning potential could make them much worse off if they don’t take care of COVID business. When I saw Chapman’s walk-off grand slam over the weekend and most of the team jumped on him, my first thought was I guess social distancing doesn’t count for walk-offs.
Players need to wear masks in the dugout and locker rooms. First basemen, catchers, and maybe batters also need to wear masks.
Have you ever tried to catch with a face (not a catcher’s) mask? The position is hard enough without a covering over your mouth and nose.
Wrong Matt. It was Olson. And yes, that made me cringe as well.
I don’t get why a team should even have the option of putting a positive tested person in the ballpark let alone on the field. this problem was completely created by the marlins – it seems easy enough to understand that if you don’t want to spread it and shut down baseball for the year – if you test positive you should not be allowed till you are clear. There shouldn’t be a decided to play anyways.
Has anyone thought of just keeping the 30 player roster instead of going down to 26 eventually? If there’s multiple double headers and fewer off days, they’ll need all the pitching they can get.
I thought the purpose of having a 60-man player pool was, if something like this were to occur, the team could be represented by players in the pool at the alternate site until the main team is cleared. Yes, I know there are 40-man roster rules, but those could and should be waived specifically for situations like this. This is no way to run a season. It’s questionable if the season should continue at all during this pandemic, but if you’re going to do it you should be prepared.
The problem isn’t with the pool of replacement players. The problem is with the players who aren’t testing positive yet. The Marlins had 4 players test positive. None of those players played. They were quarantined. A few days later 11+ players were positive, and many of those guys played and interacted with the opposing team. So replacement players don’t mean a thing really.
I agree the season should be canceled. This is silly.
We need to stop lying to ourselves. This is obscene. Just cancel the season and be done with it
Lmao. So they’re gonna determine who gets into the playoffs by win percentage? Marlins are about to finish the season with .667 and 1st in the NL East. What a bunch of clowns, fitting for this joke of a season.
Turn out the lights the parties over
Great for the Orioles to get Yanks instead, haha. Guess that will make it easier to get Kumar Rocker
MLB didn’t get through 5 games before this fiasco popped up. It looks really bad for the season as a whole but then this entire mess started with the Marlins willfully sending players out after positive tests for Covid. I thought this biggest threat was going to be more like 1 or 2 players break social rules. That’s all you need to screw everything up. But this is worse.
That’s the part I can’t wrap my head around, either- how was playing the game even a choice? I don’t care how Miami felt. This isn’t about feelings. I don’t care that they got Philadelphia to agree to it. The issue is you play that game, and then you depart, and you interact with 2 more teams and a whole host of other people in communities that didn’t get a vote that day.
I hope every Marlin makes a complete and full recovery, but that franchise is bush league. Protocols need to be put in place blocking games from occurring in these situations.
The question is will there even be 16 teams still standing come playoff time.
Hey guys, it’s only one team. Sure, it’s only been three days, but surely we can get through the remaining two months without any more problems. Best to keep this going until at least half the league has tested positive and/or someone with more notoriety than a 3rd base coach dies.
How many professional athletes, celebrities or other high-profile personas have actually died *or even shown* negative long-lasting effects (to this date) from COVID? I’m just honestly asking and would be interested to know.
150,000 people have died in three months WITH the nation shutting down and 47 million people losing their jobs. How many more should we expect in the next 3 months with schools, colleges, bars, restaurants, sports and other businesses reopening and traveling? A quarter million deaths across the USA in 6 months from one virus, and we aren’t even INTO the flu season yet, and people still think this is no big deal.
Sadly, like drunk drivers who cause accidents, the people responsible for spreading this rarely suffer themselves.
You all are so morbidly pessimistic. This is a great plan considering the circumstances. Baseball is one of the only things that have helped me balance my mental health, and MLB personell, front offices, and players all want to play. If they don’t they opt out. All parties involved know the risk and also know how powerful baseball is to bring people together. Some of you need change your mindset and quit trying to control things. Take a breath and be better.
Last time Jeter was involved with an outbreak this large, he ran out of gift baskets.
Any comment about Jeter and gift baskets gets a thumbs up from me.
Please just end the season…..so I don’t have to watch a terrible rotation all season (Braves).
Does anyone around here have any duct tape?
It’s too early to do something dramatic about the rest of the season. But it’s not too early to change course on protocols. What happened with the Marlins shouldn’t have occurred, and MLB (and the Union) need to make it clear to everyone that the safety protocols have to be observed without deviation.
D’accord, @mike156.
The most important thing I think in getting through this is being willing to alter your plans.
That’s what the federal government said. Proactive > Reactive.
I like the idea.
But.
Pretty tough to formulate a plan for all contingencies. The choice is to just quit everything for who knows how long, or use our reason, skill, and resourcefulness to figure out a way through it.
I’ll take the second. I can’t see any other way. It is fine if you disagree. I can see where you are coming from. To me, it’s like an election; choose the lesser of two evils. If you will.
:)
Well it does set up an O’s-Yankee Clash of the Titans.
I know a lot of fellas have been on the bench for the last few months. To you guys I’m sure this looks pretty slapstick.
I’m not insensitive to the optics.
But some of us have been out in the world the entire time. I think the fellas in this group will back me up on this.
Covid seems to have a penchant for causing unique problems on a regular basis. Ya know? Two boom truck operaters are in quarantine. Or a siding manufacturer is way behind in their production because the virus hit their plant. Need to change a plan and consult with a building inspector? Uh-oh… they’re not having face to face meetings. How about the few weeks when you couldn’t even pull a damn building permit?
I could go on and on (my favorite being the homeowner who was demanding my roofers wear masks on a 97° day…and socially distance! I wore her down with politeness and she returned to her air conditioning). This *is* the deal guys.
Unexpected things are going to occur. Which is to be – well – expected seeing as how this is an unprecedented set of circumstances.
My partner and I have made it through all this stuff and we’ve nowhere near the resources of MLB.
There are going to be bumps in the road, man. Collectively we learn from them and move on to the next unforseen issue. If there’s a better way I’m open to hearing it. But this is pretty much the deal, fellas.
Nice post, Ducky. I’ve been “out in the world” almost as much as normal (which is still far less than many). What I see is one thing (people following the protocols, lots of politeness and courtesy in public places, nothing too absurd) and what I read on the internets is something else.
Merci, @charboneau.
Right!?
Everyone I deal with one on one or face to face seem to want to get through this and realize it’s basically cooperate or bust.
There’s so much anonymity and so little accountability on the internet I think we all lose a measure of our humanity.
I’m guilty of it at times myself. So I’m not throwing rocks around my glass house.
Seeing how the Marlins own the Phillies and have gotten into their heads, I would rather the Phillies played the Yankees.
What’s the point of the 60-player pools if they’re not there to play for this exact reason?
This is idiocy. We’re not even a week in and this is what happens when ONE team has a major outbreak. Five teams schedules are now affected in significant ways and since there’s going to be no way to make all this up, the final results of the season will eventually be decided by percentages rather than schedule. So we’re risking the health of hundreds or even thousands of people in order to have a shortened season of an eroded product the results of which are now circumstantially compromised. Why are we doing this again? Oh to make rich men richer.
Shut it down.
Or maybe they are doing it because it’s – ya know – their *job*.
I’m out of work because of the pandemic but have no problem staying home for the sake of others. Just shut down the season.
And, that is the choice *you* made. Not everyone is going to be comfortable with that.
Which is ok, too!
I think there are people who really feel (myself being one of them) that the best way we can help is to use our skills and continue to contribute to society, the economy, etc by remaining productive.
I don’t think there’s a one size fits all solution to this stuff, man.
I was merely pointing out that some of these guys are compelled to do what they are paid for. That’s not something that is “bad”, or whatever.
Ya know?
Most people are compelled to do what they are paid to do, or they are in the wrong line of work. So as a rule of thumb that one is pretty much fingerless.
The comment literally right above mine asserts “but have no problem staying home for the sake of others”. Doesn’t sound much like he’s “compelled” to do what he is/can be paid for.
Uh?
I’ve not only a thumb, I’ve an entire glove monsieur.
Your comment literally says that choosing to work (or not) is a matter whether you find your work compelling (or not), when it is clear that many make that decision based not on whether they enjoy their work but on whether they believe they are doing the right thing by others. Not a difficult concept.
Holy run-on sentence!
I read that bad boy twice and I’ve no idea what you are trying to say lol.
Simple enough. You choosing to work has nothing to do with whether you find your work more compelling than someone who chooses not to work. They may very well choose not to work because they believe it is better for other people. Get it?
For something you keep claiming is “simple” you sure are using a lot of words.
A better way of saying might be; “that is the choice *you* made. Not everyone is going to be comfortable with that.”
Oh. Hey. Look! I just quoted my very own post lol.
Just trying to argue, huh? Well enjoy. Seems like a silly goal, but you do you, bro.
:)
Just trying not answer, huh?
Words, they are what we use to communicate. For those who are trying to communicate, anyway.
Their season should be over
Just cancel the season
Since we’re pausing, I’d like to rewind the Angels season back to the beginning.
To what 2002?
Teams should get an automatic win should their opponent be unable to compete.
Teams are going to destroy pitchers this season as they try to cram all these games into 60 days.