Major League Baseball needed to readjust its schedule this week after the 17 positive coronavirus tests in the Miami Marlins organization. The Marlins, which played three games this past weekend in Philadelphia, had their games this week postponed against the Baltimore Orioles and will not play the Washington Nationals this weekend either.
However, the reason why the Marlins are not playing the Nationals this weekend is intriguing. That is because according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, “In team vote, vast majority of Nationals players voted against going to Miami for three-game series this weekend.” The Nationals believed it was just too unsafe to go to Miami at this time, and instead they will not be playing any games this weekend.
The New York Yankees meanwhile were to play the Philadelphia Phillies this week. However, the Phillies needed time to fumigate the Marlins locker room at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA, and wait for positive tests themselves. According to Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports, the Phillies have had no new cases of coronavirus since their games against the Marlins. All Phillies staff who worked in the Marlins clubhouse in Philadelphia this past weekend have been asked to get tested for coronavirus and self isolate for 14 days. Philadelphia meanwhile will now prepare for a weekend series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Yankees meanwhile will now play the Orioles in a short two-game series tonight and tomorrow night. The games will be played at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Major League Baseball needs to be praised for their creativity here. There is a hope that the missed games between the Marlins and Orioles, Yankees and Phillies, and Nationals and Marlins will be made up at some point. By Major League Baseball scheduling the Yankees and Orioles this week, it will give them some flexibility down the road.
Update: The entire weekend series between the Phillies and Blue Jays has been postponed because two Phillies employees have coronavirus. In addition to the Phillies’ clubhouse employee, there has now been a Phillies coach who has tested positive. Also, the first two games of the St. Louis Cardinals/Milwaukee Brewers series has been postponed on Friday and Saturday because of coronavirus cases among the Cardinals.
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