The Marlins had 3 positive COVID-19 tests Sunday. Who made the decision to play anyway?
The Miami Marlins remain quarantined in Philadelphia after 18 members of their traveling party, including 16 players, tested positive for COVID-19 over the past six days.
Their season is on hold through at least Sunday as the Marlins try to contain the outbreak.
One question still being asked: Why were the Marlins able to play their series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday after finding out about three positive tests the morning of the game?
The decision came through multiple factors, starting with Major League Baseball and trickling down to the teams, but as MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred has the ultimate authority to cancel a game or suspend a team’s season.
“We ordered additional testing,” Manfred said. “We did symptom checks. We did temperature checks and decided to proceed with the game on Sunday.”
The Marlins knew about the positive tests before 8 a.m. Sunday, more than five hours before first pitch and before the team began heading to Citizens Bank Park for their 1:05 p.m. game. Pitcher Robert Dugger was told about 8:30 a.m. that he would be starting in place of Jose Urena, who was scratched from the lineup.
Manfred said Monday in an interview on MLB Network that the league and the Marlins did contact tracing on all four players who had tested positive since the team’s arrival in Philadelphia and identified “a small number of players” who met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines for potential exposure.
Those players, like the four who tested positive, were quarantined in the team hotel.
Twenty Marlins players were on the field at some point Sunday, whether it was during pre-game warmups or playing in the game itself. Of those players, only shortstop Miguel Rojas (who played in the game) and pitcher Sandy Alcantara (who did not) have been publicly reported as testing positive for COVID-19.
Manfred said that simply being teammates, being in the same clubhouse and playing on the same field don’t necessarily meet the requirements for close contact that would require someone to have to quarantine.
“There’s a distance requirement,” Manfred said, “as well as a duration requirement.”
From there, it came down to if the teams felt comfortable playing.
Phillies manager Joe Girardi said Sunday the Phillies were “aware that something was going on” pregame with the Marlins. The Phillies sent a text to players reminding them to be vigilant against the spread of COVID-19.
“We’re always concerned,” Girardi said. “I think you see our guys take precautions on the field. The good thing is when we do see players from the other team, it’s on the field and outside and there’s usually a lot of distance. You hope that protects our club. The problem is when a guy in your club gets it and doesn’t know about it for a day or two and then has the ability to spread it around to a few people.”
Girardi also deflected questions about whether the game should have been played to Major League Baseball.
“I didn’t catch any wind that we weren’t going to play,” Girardi said. “I think they followed protocol. We played.”
Rojas, the Marlins’ unofficial captain and the team’s player representative for the MLB Players Association, has served as the point person between the clubhouse and the coaching staff throughout the leadup to the season.
With a game on the horizon and health concerns a top priority this season, Rojas reached out to everyone on the Marlins’ active roster via a group chat Sunday morning to see if they had any concerns about playing.
“It’s everybody putting in their input,” Rojas said, “and trying to express their concerns.”
The consensus: Play ball.
“We’re going to continue to be responsible,” Rojas said, “and just play the game as hard as we can.”
Marlins manager Don Mattingly said the coaching staff and front office will listen to the players with anything regarding COVID-19 and their health.
But Mattingly also said the Marlins “never really considered not playing from my standpoint” once they were cleared.
“You try to set yourself up to do what’s best for the players,” Mattingly said Sunday. “Everybody as they talked it over today, they wanted to play.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 12:23 PM.
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