Less than 72 hours in the baseball season, Major League Baseball already has its first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak after the Phillies game
Just six hours before first pitch in the Marlins-Phillies series finale, the Miami Marlins organization had confirmed one of its players had tested positive for COVID-19. Fast forward to the following morning, a widespread outbreak hit the organization with at least 14 players and coaches testing positive for the virus.
Why was the game played knowing that the Marlins had a player with COVID-19 that could’ve and was spread to other players on the team?
Answer: It should not have been.
It should not have been played at all. The game should’ve been postponed until Miami conducted contact-tracing tests on all of their players and coaches and getting negative results before taking the field on Sunday evening. There is no reasonable explanation that the game should have been played. It potentially infected Philadelphia Phillies’ players and coaches.
Multiple reports indicate that the Miami Marlins decided whether or not they should have played the series finale Sunday in Philadelphia via group text that included players and coaches. Nothing about deciding to play a game when there was a player testing positive via group text was located. in the 103-page COVID-19 protocol handbook released by Major League Baseball at the start of summer camps.
If Major League Baseball’s true intentions are to keep players and staff safe, this should’ve never happened. While it is pretty obvious that an outbreak in a pandemic was inevitable, Major League Baseball should not have allowed Sunday’s series finale to be played.
It’s important now than ever that Major League Baseball puts the safety of players and staff first. The Philadelphia Phillies, at the start of summer camp, already had five players testing positive in addition to an outbreak at the team’s facility in Clearwater, Florida.
The Miami Marlins could’ve done better. Major League Baseball has to do better.
The Philadelphia Phillies were tested today at Citizens Bank Park and are currently awaiting their results.