The 2020 Major League Baseball season is only one weekend old at the sport has already seen its first coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak as it’s believed more than 10 Miami Marlins players and two coaches have tested positive.
MLB decided to postpone the Marlins’ game against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday, as well as the Philadelphia Phillies’ game against the New York Yankees, since they just finished up a weekend series against Miami.
All other games are expected to go on as planned, and MLB intends to carry on with the season. It was expected that there would be some sort of outbreak at some point, but the fact that it happened the first weekend shows the league may be in over its head right now.
Additionally, this sort of outbreak shows why it was so silly that MLB and its Players Association were arguing over money for four months as opposed to putting proper health and safety protocols in place.
The Marlins had the ability to cancel their game on Sunday after it was revealed four players tested positive, although after a team meeting, they decided to play and could have infected an entire team in the process.
Los Angeles Dodgers veteran pitcher David Price made the difficult decision to opt out of the 2020 season due to health concerns for him and his family. He took to Twitter on Monday to blast the league for not putting the health of the players first:
Now we REALLY get to see if MLB is going to put players health first. Remember when Manfred said players health was PARAMOUNT?! Part of the reason I’m at home right now is because players health wasn’t being put first. I can see that hasn’t changed.
— David Price (@DAVIDprice24) July 27, 2020
As the Dodgers get set to make their first road trip, many of their players, as well as manager Dave Roberts, have expressed confidence in the health and safety protocols in place.
Price is valid in raising concerns, even if he is sitting at home and watching as a fan this season like everybody else.
Price calls missing Opening Day with teammates ‘tough’
As someone who has been in the league for more than a decade and pitched in multiple Opening Days, Price recently opened up about how difficult missing this year’s was.
He is sitting out the season to ensure he, his wife and their two young children remain safe though, which has to be respected with everything going on right now.
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