Chicago Cubs pitching coach adds his name to the growing list of positive COVID-19 tests

While baseball forces its way back, the list of employees testing positive for COVID-19 continues to grow. 

Baseball is coming back — along with sports in general — despite the fact that the world remains in the midst of a global pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

We’re less than four months removed from one positive test bringing the entire North American sports world to a grinding halt. All it took was Rudy Gobert’s positive test in March to stop everything, yet as we begin July countless athletes and coaches are testing positive by the day and leagues are essentially Jordan Shrugging it off.

“Positive tests are going to happen,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in justifying why sports are barreling towards restarting despite no real progress being made in quelling the spread of COVID-19.

That’s the stance sports have taken, and it remains a hot button issue among fans who want to see games return but haven’t done a whole lot to deserve that. Above all, the idea of putting others at risk for the sake of watching some games has been a serious topic of conversation that only continues to skewer towards not playing as new positive tests pop up.

Chicago Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy tested positive for COVID-19

It’s unclear whether he had the virus or currently is recovering from it, but either way, this is another bad sign for baseball coming back.

Hottovy joins a slew of other baseball people ranging from the outbreak at the Phillies camp to multiple Mariners employees to test positive for the virus. Every baseball club has been affected in some way by the virus as the league pushes towards a return to action with a 60-game season slated to start later this summer.

Measures are being taken to combat these outbreaks. The Minnesota Twins told two of their staff members, both of whom were elderly, to stay away from the club as a precaution.  Marquee players like Ian Desmond and Ryan Zimmerman have decided to skip this season and sit out as to not put their lives or the lives of their families in danger.

Obviously, the easiest solution is to simply not play baseball until it’s safe to. But that makes far too much sense to actually be a plan that’s followed.