MLB’s failure with the Marlins’ coronavirus outbreak is proving to be a huge mess

The MLB season is spiraling out of control.

When MLB released its plans to proceed with a 60-game season that involved teams traveling, the possibility of a team-wide coronavirus outbreak had to be something the league considered.

The risks of playing outside a bubble in a global pandemic should have put MLB on alert to have immediate plans in place in the case of an outbreak. But it hasn’t even taken a full week to get to this scenario, and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred hasn’t been prepared to deal with it at all.

With at least 17 players and staff members of the Miami Marlins testing positive for the coronavirus, MLB is essentially trying to figure things out on the fly. The Marlins situation went from the team deciding over group text to play on Sunday despite positive cases within the clubhouse to MLB postponing the Marlins’ games for a couple days … to MLB pausing the Marlins’ season.

And this entire situation has put multiple teams in limbo. It’s not a situation that can be dismissed as “just the Marlins.”

The full scope of this mess is almost difficult to keep track of. But let’s give it a shot.

First, the Philadelphia Phillies played an entire series against the Marlins as the contagion spread within that visiting clubhouse. The Phillies had their Monday and Tuesday games against the Yankees postponed as the Phillies underwent testing. And thus far, no Phillies players have tested positive. But when it comes to the coronavirus, the incubation period can be anywhere from two to 10 days. An infected Phillies player could theoretically be testing negative right now.

So, when can the Phillies get back to play? It can’t be before Friday. It might have to be longer.

But the Marlins were supposed to play the Orioles this week, and the Phillies were supposed to play the Yankees. So rather than have four teams just take a week off from the already-abbreviated season, MLB may be looking at re-drawing the schedule to have the Yankees and Orioles play Wednesday and Thursday.

And, then, maybe (MAYBE!) if the Phillies continue to test negative through the week, they will play the Blue Jays for their weekend series starting Friday. This series would be in Philadelphia, but the Blue Jays — who weren’t allowed to play in Canada because *points at the previous eight paragraphs* — would be the designated home team. And that’s only if the Phillies avoid a potential team-wide outbreak.

There is also the Washington Nationals who are scheduled to play the Marlins this weekend. But that won’t be happening because MLB decided to postpone the Marlins’ games through Monday. So, the Nationals have the weekend off.

Basically, the MLB schedule looks something like this now.

All this really shows is how delicate the experiment of an MLB season is. The league is juggling health and safety with team schedules and hoping everything works out for the best … all while lacking daily rapid tests.

Manfred said on Monday that he wouldn’t put this outbreak in the “nightmare category.”

If we’re not there yet, I’d hate to see what qualifies as a nightmare. This season isn’t even a week old, and it’s been chaos.

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