What does MLB do after the Marlins COVID-19 outbreak?

Miami Marlins’ COVID-19 outbreak puts the 2020 MLB season in doubt.

Less than a week into the 2020 season, the integrity and sustainability of what Major League Baseball is attempting to pull off has already come crashing down around them.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported on Monday that eight Miami Marlins players and two coaches have tested positive for COVID-19. This comes after pitcher Jose Urena was scratched from his start on Sunday after a positive test, along with first baseman Garrett Cooper and outfielder Harold Ramirez; catcher Jorge Alfaro tested positive on Friday. That brings the total number of cases on the club to at least 14, including 12 of the 30 players on their roster.

The Marlins have already canceled Monday’s home opener against the Baltimore Orioles and have stayed behind in Philadelphia, where they played a three-game series over the weekend. More cancellations are sure to follow. But the repercussions extend far beyond one club.

The Phillies shared a field with the Marlins. The New York Yankees are scheduled to play in Philadelphia beginning on Monday, using the same clubhouse at Citizens Bank Ballpark that the Marlins used; the Yankees have already announced they’re bringing their own clubhouse staff with them. The umpires who worked the Marlins-Phillies game are also potentially compromised.

Commissioner Rob Manfred now has a decision to make: should he cancel the rest of the season, or at least suspend it for an indefinite period of time? He has the power to make that unilateral decision under the agreement reached between owners and the Players Association. If the Marlins have to shut down for several weeks, what does that do to the integrity of the schedule?

MLB attempted to do this summer what the NBA and NHL didn’t, try to play in their home ballparks. Players eschewed playing in a bubble and potentially staying away from their families for months at a time. Even with all the safety protocols enacted at MLB ballparks, players are still living in their own communities, staying around family members, picking up groceries, and traveling around the country. In such a scenario, baseball couldn’t hope to keep the virus out for long. It was only a matter of when, not if, multiple cases would strike the same club. But just five days in seems like a nightmare scenario for the league.

MLB allowed the Phillies-Marlins game on Sunday to go ahead knowing of the multiple positive tests. The Marlins players discussed the issue amongst themselves before the game and never considered not playing. But even manager Don Mattingly admitted the level of concern was still high.

“It’s fair to say guys are concerned about things,” he said on Sunday, according to MLB.com. “They want their feelings as part of situations to be heard. I think it’s fair. We’re talking about health. We’re talking about these guys traveling back to their homes. To their families, to their kids. It’s the reason we want to be safe.”

Twenty-four of the 30 MLB clubs are scheduled to play on Monday; all of the games with the exception of the Marlins-Orioles are still going ahead as planned, at least for now. It was a bold risk that the league was taking trying to play during a pandemic. The gamble, though, hasn’t paid off, and it now seems certainly possible, maybe even likely, that the season doesn’t last much longer.