Nick Piccone
Tonight’s Phillies-Yankees game at Citizens Bank Park has been postponed by Major League Baseball due to a Marlins COVID-19 outbreak.
Tonight’s Yankees-Phillies game is cancelled, source tells The Athletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 27, 2020
This morning, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported 10 more Marlins – eight players and two coaches – tested positive for COVID-19, in addition to the four that were already confirmed.
Eight more players and two coaches with the Miami Marlins have tested positive for COVID-19, as an outbreak has spread throughout their clubhouse and brought the total of cases in recent days to at least 14, sources familiar with the situation tell me and @JesseRogersESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 27, 2020
Of course, the Marlins were in town this weekend to open the season against the Phillies. You’d think the Phillies players would now be tested, along with all the in-person staff that was there the last three days. This will become a precedent-setting few days as MLB tries to figure out an outbreak during the first weekend of the season. This doesn’t just affect the Marlins by any means – the New York Yankees would have to have shared the same clubhouse as the Marlins, and the Phillies shared the same field with Marlins for three straight days.
According to Rosenthal, the Marlins played on Sunday despite knowing about three additional positive tests.
Multiple sources confirmed that the Marlins played despite having three players learn Sunday that they’d tested positive for COVID-19, just two days after a fourth player learned of a positive test on Friday.
And according to the Inquirer‘s Matt Breen, the Marlins “held a player’s meeting to decide if they should play against the Phillies.”
The Marlins learned before Sunday’s game that three players had tested positive for COVID-19. So they held a player’s meeting to decide if they should play against the Phillies. Can’t find that protocol in MLB’s 101-page manual.
— Matt Breen (@matt_breen) July 27, 2020
It’s absolutely outrageous this information wasn’t disseminated publicly and a reason for calling off Sunday’s game. It was a clear outbreak, and the team decided to play anyway. There’s no way of knowing if the Phillies knew about the positive tests, but I think we’d know if that was the case at this point. [UPDATE: They knew.]
According to Bob Nightengale, no other MLB games are under consideration of being postponed today.
There are no other #MLB games today currently under consideration of being cancelled as test results are s till coming in.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 27, 2020
UPDATE: Here’s the statement from MLB.
Statement from MLB pic.twitter.com/nP1xvOe8hU
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 27, 2020
“Tonight’s scheduled games between the Miami Marlins and 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 testing. The members of the Marlins’ traveling party are self-quarantining in place while awaiting the outcome 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 Club medical staffs, and will continue to provide updates as appropriate.”
The City of Philadelphia has also issued a statement.
“The Philadelphia Department of Public Health has been working closely with both the Phillies and Marlins teams.
We support the decision by the Marlins to shelter in Philadelphia in response to the positive tests. Members of the Marlins organization who have tested positive are in isolation in the team hotel, which is taking all of the recommended precautions to protect staff, including no-touch food delivery. We are in consultation with the Phillies organization to ensure that they are following MLB safety and testing protocols with players and staff. Per those protocols, the Phillies have been in frequent contact with the Health Department providing updates on both the Phillies and Marlins staffs and teams. The Marlins are conducting contact tracing as is described in the MLB protocol and have also been in contact with the Health Department.
We have no comment on the state of the baseball season.
The risk from the MLB situation to Philadelphians is extremely low. As the pandemic continues to infect more than a hundred Philadelphians every day, we recommend that people maintain at least six feet of distance from others, wear masks, and wash their hands frequently.”
You can follow Nick Piccone on Twitter (@nickpiccone) and e-mail him at [email protected]. You can read his pro wrestling articles on PhillyVoice here.
Subscribe to The Straight Shooters on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, Player FM, and wherever else you get your podcasts! Follow The Straight Shooters on Twitter (@ShootersRadio), like them on Facebook, and listen to every episode at ShootersRadio.com.
Subscribe, rate, and review all Philly Influencer podcasts here. Follow Philly Influencer on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.