COVID-19 Outbreak With Marlins Raises Concern

As professional sports leagues get back into action, there are bound to be challenges with team outbreaks. Monday morning, however, a report came out that could threaten to halt the newly restarted MLB season.

14 members of the Miami Marlins organ have tested positive for COVID-19 in only a few days, after 8 players and 2 coaches' results came back positive Monday. This follows 4 players testing positive a couple days ago before their series with the Phillies. As a result, their home opener tonight against the Orioles has been cancelled.

It is worth noting, as Karl Ravech said on twitter, "Under (current) agreement, MLB Commissioner (Rob) Manfred has (the) power to suspend/cancel (the) season if a team or teams suffer an outbreak and competitive integrity is compromised." Given that today the Yankees are scheduled to use the same visitors clubhouse that the Marlins used yesterday, we could see this outbreak quickly evolve into a league wide crisis, as more measures will have to be taken and more games may have to be cancelled.

The Phillies are quarantining their entire clubhouse staff after exposure to the Marlins this past weekend, and are testing personnel too.

As the league and it's affected teams scramble to do damage control, many have seen this as concrete proof that baseball should not be played this year. Calls for the season to be cancelled have grown, and many have started to wonder how this could be a preview of the crises other sports will face if they resume.

This evening's Yankees and Phillies matchup has been postponed according to Ken Rosenthal.

The situation certainly darkens the hopes that professional sports will be able to hold their seasons safely in 2020.