Miami Marlins’ COVID-19 plight serves as a stark reminder to Texas Rangers about risk
The data from league-wide COVID-19 testing and the safety protocols in place support the decision to keep playing, Major League Baseball said Tuesday despite half the Miami Marlins’ 30-man roster testing positive for the disease.
In the most recent batch of tests, the only team with any positive results was the Marlins, but they have had 17 in the past three days (15 players, two coaches). The result has been the postponement all of their games this week as well as a four-game home-and-home set between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies.
The Phillies were the Marlins’ season-opening opponent, and they have asked for two batches of negative results before deciding to resume their schedule. The Washington Nationals, who were Miami-bound this weekend, voted almost unanimously to not play.
Make no mistake that COVID-19 is, again, the prevailing storyline in baseball, and that was the case Tuesday at Globe Life Field ahead of the Texas Rangers opening a two-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“To be honest with you, I don’t think anyone was fully confident in how it was going to go down,” right-hander Lance Lynn said. “Right before we started up all the hot spots supposedly were the safe zones.
“Now, you know what you’re getting into. You know you’ve got to take care of yourself, you’ve got to take care of each other, and you’ve got to take care of your family. If we do that, we’ve got a chance, but we’ve seen that it can find itself into an clubhouse and we’ve to make sure that we try not to allow that to happen here.”
The Rangers will head on the road after their two-game set against the D’backs for three-game series at San Francisco and Oakland. There is a Monday off-day between series.
The MLB operations manual lays out a plan that essentially says players aren’t to leave their rooms. There might be wiggle room in case a player needs an essential item that a hotel is unable to provide, but not much else.
The Rangers were planning to hold a team meeting Tuesday to reinforce the need to stay diligent in protecting themselves and their teammates on the road.
The Marlins were on the road when their outbreak started, though it’s possible the players who spread the infection caught it before the team left Miami.
They are still quarantined in their Philadelphia hotel and will remain there until at least Sunday. MLB has not released the results of any contact tracing, if any has been done, but in a statement Tuesday stressed the need to adhere to the protocols in place.
“The difficult circumstances of one club reinforce the vital need to be diligent with the protocols in all ways, both on and off the field,” the statement read. “The realities of the virus still loom large, and we must operate with that in mind every day. “
Rangers right fielder Joey Gallo and left-hander Brett Martin tested positive during the pre-camp screening process, but both were cleared during camp to resume working out. Gallo was on the Opening Day roster, and Martin was added to the roster Tuesday.
MLB said that in more than 6,400 tests since Friday, the only positives have been the 17 with the Marlins. As of Thursday, only 99 of the 32,640 samples since June 27 – a scant 0.3% – had been positive.
Despite the encouraging data, the Marlins’ situation has rattled MLB and left Rangers players feeling more uneasy about their safety.
“I think everyone had multiple thoughts on this from the get-go,” Lynn said. “I don’t know if there’s anybody that can sit here that was 100% that this is going to happen or this is going to happen or we feel 100% safe.
“Now, it’s beyond it’s not going to happen. That being said, we’ve got to be there for each other, make sure we don’t infect each other, and do what we’ve got to do to keep each other healthy. If we do that, we’ve got a chance, but it’s still just a chance. There’s no 100% in this thing.”
Rangers reliever Jesse Chavez said that no Rangers players are considering opting out of the season, and manager Chris Woodward is optimistic about the likelihood that the Rangers play all 60 games this season.
His wife, Erin, is a nurse who has worked daily with COVID-positive patients, and neither she nor Woodward and their three children have been infected as they practice CDC guidelines.
It’s up to baseball to do its part.
“I think this is a bit of a wake-up call for everybody in sports,” he said. “We’ll get to the bottom of why this happened, but I’m confident. I think we can get through it as a league, as a team, but we’ve got to be really vigilant with the way we handle ourselves.”
