Marlins COVID-19 outbreak has implications for the Atlanta Braves

For the Atlanta Braves and all of MLB, this is the scenario we all feared.

If anyone out there is still thinking that Nick Markakis and others made a bad knee-jerk-reaction to opt-out of his final season with the Atlanta Braves, then perhaps this news should make you reconsider:

So that’s at least twelve of their players in just two days’ time (update: other reports indicate 11).

This certainly has the attention of their weekend opponents, the Phillies, in addition to the next club coming to Philadelphia to play:

But there’s more.  Anybody recall who the Marlins played just before this weekend?  Before the season started?

The Atlanta Braves.

Recall, too, that both starting catchers for the Braves were shut down due to symptoms of a possible illness out of caution (no positive COVID-19 test has been reported on either Tyler Flowers or Travis d’Arnaud as of this writing).

There’s a number of possibilities here that we should at least speak about:

• Catchers are certainly more susceptible to risk, since they are the closest to opposing batters (and to more of them) than any other player.
• Everyone in the media is jumping on the fact that the Marlins are from Miami and that Florida is a ‘hot spot’ for the virus.  All true, though they had been out of the state for a week now.  Therefore…
• We can’t rule out the possibility that Flowers or d’Arnaud might actually have had something first… something then passed to Marlin players.  That risk thing does rub both ways, after all.
• Again: that’s speculative, and neither Flowers nor d’Arnaud is known to be COVID-positive, but it should be addressed.

Regardless of who passed what to whom, the MLB now has a very big problem on its hands.

Many are wondering aloud (and were on Sunday) whether the final Marlins/Phillies game should have been played at all.  Many more will be wondering if any games should be played today.

As of this moment, the Marlins have been told that their game with the Orioles – supposed to be in Miami (and they haven’t left Philadelphia) is canceled.

There are likely talks now underway about how MLB should proceed.  Here is my own suggestion:

• Cancel all games on the schedule for Monday through Wednesday
• Get fresh rounds of tests to all players on both days with an emphasis on getting results quickly.
• Re-sanitize all MLB facilities.
• Re-educate all players on the need to adhere to all protocols in place.  Many teams were demonstrably lax on these this weekend.
• See how the landscape looks on Wednesday with the aim of picking up games on Thursday.  If the test results are any worse, more drastic measures — shuttering the season? — may have to be contemplated.

UPDATE:  So far, this is the answer:

This has implications beyond baseball, of course:  will your local school sports teams be able to function this fall?  How can a school system justify a football program after seeing what’s going on among professionals that supposed have well-controlled environments?

Ditto for the workplaces around the country.

All of this continues to serve as sobering reminders that we’re not nearly out of the woods on this virus and that safeguards have to be honored by all of us.

Apparently, all it takes is one slip-up to let this thing run rampant.  Again.

Final thoughts:  is this a paranoid take?  Yes, there’s some elements of that here, no doubt.  But do understand all this is happening after just 3 days into a season in which teams were supposed to be exercising abundant caution in their own behaviors in a sport that’s generally non-contact.

The Atlanta Braves are now in St. Petersburg, preparing to meet the Rays tonight, having gone from one ‘hot spot’ state to another.   Let’s hope they stay safe and that there’s still more baseball in the future for them this season.