Ryan Braun opens up about the harsh reality of being an MLB player during COVID-19
By Emily Adams
The league’s restart has already gone downhill, and players are concerned for their own safety.
The MLB kicked off it’s 2020 season less than a week ago, and it has already been derailed by a coronavirus outbreak on the Miami Marlins. The Marlins — along with their last opponent, the Philadelphia Phillies — are now benched until further notice, and Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun gave a brutally honest explanation of what players are going through right now as this mess unfolds.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt, Braun said that the Marlins’ outbreak has scared a lot of athletes in the MLB and has sparked serious discussions about whether it’s worthwhile to keep playing. Even if athletes aren’t high risk, many have families who they could put in danger or be forced to isolate from if they tested positive. Braun has three children, and his youngest son is less than three months old.
Braun says it's "day to day" in deciding whether to keep playing or opt out. "There's a real level of fear and anxiety for all of us."
— Tom (@Haudricourt) July 28, 2020
It has to be hard for these athletes to weigh their career against the potential health risks that have been made much more real by the Marlins’ situation. It wouldn’t be surprising at all to see several more players, especially those with underlying health conditions or high-risk family members, choosing to opt out of the remainder of the season in the coming days.
Per Haudricourt, Braun also said that one of the biggest concerns for him and his teammates are the actions of other players. Players could maintain all social distancing and safety protocols and still test positive if they interact with a teammate or opponent who hasn’t been so careful. The outbreak on the Marlins has only exacerbated this worry. The Phillies are experiencing the issue right now. Their upcoming games have been canceled because they were the last team to play Miami before the positive tests were announced.
Even though they've only been on road six days, #Brewers Ryan Braun says there's more "anxiety and fear" than it was being at home, where you knew what you could trust and how testing would be done, etc. The Marlins' situation certainly did nothing to alleviate that.
— Tom (@Haudricourt) July 28, 2020
It’s hard not to get nervous doing simple tasks like going to the grocery store, and MLB players are literally traveling the country and interacting with dozens of other athletes constantly. If the league can’t get this under control soon, they had better hope that Braun’s thinking isn’t shared by the rest of their athletes. If it is, they’re not going to have enough teams to even complete the season.
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