MLB Season Off to a Rough Start with 18 Miami Marlins Testing Positive for COVID-19

The GIST: We’re a week into the MLB season and 18 (!!!) members of the Miami Marlins have already tested positive for COVID-19. Not good. The league has since postponed games and adjusted the schedule, but we think this situation might require more than a Band-Aid solution.

Sh!t. What happened?: The MLB season started on Thursday, July 23rd, and opening weekend went smoothly for *checks notes* just over 48 hours. By Sunday morning, Marlins starting pitcher José Ureña had tested positive for COVID-19.

• Given this news, you’d expect the Marlins to shut everything down, right? Yeah, us too. Instead, via group text (talk about receipts), players decided that they would forge ahead and play on Sunday, which may have violated MLB COVID-19 protocols.
  

• By Monday, 14 members of the Marlins (12 players and two staff members) had tested positive, and their games were finally put on pause.

Uh-oh. So where do things stand?: As of now, the Marlins and the Philadelphia Phillies (who the Marlins played during opening weekend) have placed their schedules on hold. All members of the Phillies have since tested negative and they’ll restart play this Saturday. Miami will apparently play again next Tuesday...if they can piece a team together.

Will anything else change?: Despite an offer from America’s quarantine heartthrob New York governor Andrew Cuomo to host all 30 MLB teams in New York, commissioner Rob Manfred will move forward with the original regionalized travel play plan.

• The MLB will attempt to make up postponed games later in the already shortened season, but are apparently open to some teams playing fewer games and deciding final standings based on winning percentage. As if this wasn’t already giving us a headache!