Fauci: MLB doesn’t have to stop, but Marlins COVID-19 outbreak ‘could put it in danger’
Dr. Anthony Fauci said he does not believe at this time the Major League Baseball season needs to canceled following the Miami Marlins’ recent coronavirus outbreak but added that it could be the first step of putting the 2020 season in jeopardy.
Thirteen members of the organization, including 11 players, tested positive for COVID-19 since arriving in Philadelphia on Wednesday for their season-opening series against the Philadelphia Phillies. That included three positive tests being revealed just before the morning of their series finale at Citizens Bank Park and nine more tests coming back positive Monday morning. The team remains quarantined in Philadelphia as they await the results of additional COVID-19 tests. The Marlins’ first home series against the Baltimore Orioles, set for Monday and Tuesday, was postponed.
“First of all, I’m concerned,” Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday morning on Good Morning America. “I hope the players are all right. I heard almost a dozen of them have gotten infected. Even though they’re young, vigorous and very healthy, I hope they’re OK. You have to watch this because this could put it in danger. I don’t believe they need to stop, but we just need to follow this and see what happens with other teams on a day-by-day basis.”
MLB also postponed the Phillies’ home game against the New York Yankees on Monday as Phillies players underwent additional testing as a precaution.
“I know that Major League Baseball — the players, the owners, the managers — have put a lot of effort into getting together and putting protocols that we feel would work,” Fauci said. “It’s very unfortunate what happened with the Miami [Marlins].”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, speaking Monday night on MLB Network, said he is still optimistic the shortened 2020 season will be played to completion despite this first true test to see how the league will handle an outbreak of positive tests on one team.
“Obviously, we don’t want any player to get exposed,” Manfred said. “It’s not a positive thing. But I don’t see it as a nightmare. We built the protocols to allow us to continue to play.”
Manfred said the Marlins could resume playing as early as Wednesday in Baltimore “if the testing results are acceptable.” He did not rule out the possibility of doubleheaders being played in Baltimore should the Marlins be cleared to play. These four games in four days — the postponed games from Monday and Tuesday in Miami and the games set for Wednesday and Thursday in Baltimore — were the only times the Marlins are Orioles were scheduled to play each other this season.
In Manfred’s eyes, what would it take for a team’s season — or the entire season, for that matter — to be potentially be shut down?
“I think that a team losing a number of players that rendered it completely non-competitive would be an issue that we would have to address and have to think about making a change,” Manfred said. “Whether that was shutting down a part of the season [or] the whole season, that depends on the circumstances. Same thing with respect to league-wide. If you get to a certain point league-wide where it does become a health threat, we certainly would shut down at that point.”
Marlins manager Don Mattingly’s thoughts on the same issue?
“Hopefully, we don’t deal with that hypothetical,” he said postgame Sunday. “That’s all it is at that point. You try to set yourself up to do what’s best for the players.”
Manfred said the Marlins underwent contact tracing after three positive tests surfacing Sunday morning, hours before the Marlins and Phillies were set to play their final game at Citizens Bank Park, and found a “small number of player” who met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for potential exposure.
“They were quarantined,” Manfred said of the potentially exposed players. “We ordered additional testing. We did symptom checks. We did temperature checks and decided to proceed with the game on Sunday.”
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 9:46 AM.
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