then coronavirus happened, 2020 baseball

Ya. The thing they said mlb should do but the players, in their infinite wisdom, decided was not for them.

something tells me that's not going to work

this was pretty inevitable but less than a week in wow

move both Florida teams to ...?

buffalo obv

I find talk about fixing the MLB process strangely dystopian

The problem is not MLB's failure to hermetically seal in a baseball Arcology. The problem is there's an essentially uncontrolled pandemic raging through the country. Maybe we should fix society, then worry about sports

— Dan Brooks (@brooksbaseball) July 27, 2020

also, am i crazy or is the fucking NHL about to re-start games? how is that even possible

― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Monday, July 27, 2020 9:46 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

nhl just put out a statement that claimed there were 2 positive results out of 6000+ total tests. plus, they're doing a bubble, and they're in canada, not coronamerica

Marlins’ group text message decided game vs. Phillies would be played Sunday after COVID-19 outbreak https://t.co/ixGIxNu23F

— Philadelphia Inquirer Sports (@phillysport) July 27, 2020

xp

that's good! 43 NHL players tested positive during "Phase 2" of re-opening process, though, from June 8 to July 12. are the players allowed to see their family or any other "non-bubble" people during the season? if they truly are isolated, maybe they'll be able to pull it off.

xp i can't wait until official team physician yadier molina is asked to make the call about whether or not cardinals games should be played when members of the team starting going down. something tells me he's going to say they can play

did anyone in the marlins group text think about asking the phillies if they were cool with playing?

i have to say i've been shocked that the entire team doesn't kneel during the national anthem. with the bosox i think it's just jackie bradley jr. it looks like his teammates don't agree with him, or are hanging him out to dry. completely bizarre to me.

by way of contrast, soccer teams in the premiere league are ALL taking a knee, every player, before every game. little something called 'team spirit', look it up

last week some giants reliever was asked why he didn't kneel; his response was 'because i'm a christian'

sounds like he follows andrew sullivan on twitter

Another concern for Phils: Due to incubation period, tests they are taking today and tomorrow might not show whether they were positive from contact yesterday. Team supposed to travel to NY tomorrow night, but how confident can players be knowing results will not be up to minute? https://t.co/fPs9Cgm1xI

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 27, 2020

i guess i could be wrong, but it's hard not to feel like today or tomorrow will be the last day of baseball for 2020, at least in this godforsaken country

lmao if this season ends after 3 days and this aborted season data is just trapped on Fangraphs and BB Ref forever

Is there a baseball-ready diamond at Guantanamo Bay?

This is indeed the plan, though it is fluid, sources say. Orioles flying back to Baltimore from Miami tonight. https://t.co/99Unoq2cm1

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 27, 2020

Orioles showing tremendous foresight as they made the decision months ago to jettison most of the major league roster and put the practice squad on the field

i don't see the Lords of the Realm throwing in the towel just yet, esp as the players union signed on to this scenario.

Too much money on the table

as we said

They probably also think the cases will go to zero soon, that the virus will just disappear, and that the stock market looks very good to them. https://t.co/v7GhJxnjkT

— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) July 27, 2020

yeah they're gonna let this play out until it becomes impossible to ignore though lol @ the NBA season getting cancelled over a single positive test (well, 2 I guess) while we have 16 on a single team now

i think they're just waiting until someone dies or is forced to retire early. that's not "the plan", but that's what they're doing

from the athletic:

Based on existing literature, the incubation period for COVID-19 ranges from two to 14 days. Dr. Zachary Binney, an epidemiologist at Emory University’s Oxford College, said that both the Marlins and Phillies should be shut down for at least five days.

The Marlins remained in Philadelphia on Monday, awaiting their next wave of test results. Depending upon how those results turned out, those games might now be played at Camden Yards, where the teams already were scheduled to begin a two-game series Wednesday, sources said. Under the makeshift plan, the non-infected Marlins players would take a bus from Philadelphia to Baltimore, and members of the team’s 60-player pool would replace those who had tested positive.

“This is absolutely insane … if possible, the literal stupidest possible plan,” Binney said on Twitter. “You have a raging outbreak, anyone in the Marlins traveling party could be infected regardless of how their tests come back. So by all means, just bring that on the road to Baltimore!”

On the “Starkville” podcast, Binney said, “At a minimum, you have to shut down for at least five days to see if more cases uncover. And you need to wait because you could have ongoing transmission from cases that are newly discovered tomorrow or the next day. You could still have more come from chains of transmission from those people after that. So there’s no cure but time here, unfortunately.”

This is absolutely insane … if possible, the literal stupidest possible plan

who knew the best August US politics thread title would come from the baseball board

white sox pitcher michael kopech has filed for divorce from riverdale actress vanessa morgan after five months. they are expecting a baby in january

That did not take much of him hanging around the house.

Basically speechless, except that yes, I imagine it will take a death to shut everything down.

I'll be honest about one thing, though. For all my above-it-all/no-interest posts previously, I've been checking boxscores the way I always do, and noticing things like Nelson Cruz's start. I really don't care, it's just habit.

i don't think it's going to take a death unless eduardo rodriguez makes a full recovery pretty quickly

I cancelled MLB.tv when covid hit as a quick money saving measure, and I'm feeling a little withdrawal.

look up mlbstreams on the the reddit.

ah, thanks!

on the bright side, my lifelong dream of playing for the Marlins looks a little closer to reality.

Marlins remain in Philadelphia. One of previous team members to test positive had a subsequent test come back negative, source says. Would need two negatives at least 24 hours apart to become eligible to return. https://t.co/EG0HkVib9P

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 28, 2020

this may be old info now (interview with Manfred from last night):

Manfred announced that the Marlins -- who were going through additional testing on Monday -- would not play either of their scheduled games Monday or Tuesday in Miami against the Orioles. If testing results are acceptable, Manfred said the two teams would resume play on Wednesday in Baltimore. Whether the two postponed games will be moved to Camden Yards remains to be seen, Manfred said.

MLB expects to receive test results from the Phillies and Marlins late Monday night, at which time the league will determine how those teams will proceed. The Phillies were set to host the Yankees on Monday night, but the game was postponed out of an abundance of caution.

“We're waiting to see exactly what we get in terms of test results before we make a decision,” Manfred said. “Right now, the only thing that's firm is if the test results result in negatives for the rest of the [Marlins], we would play at least two in Baltimore on Wednesday and Thursday.”

The Marlins underwent testing on Friday, which revealed one positive result Saturday. That led to more testing Saturday, which revealed three more positives on Sunday.

“What then happened under the protocols, was we did contact tracing on all four positives; there were a small number of players who met the CDC guidelines,” Manfred said. “They were quarantined; we ordered additional testing, we did symptom checks. We did temperature checks and decided to proceed with the game on Sunday.”

Manfred spoke with the league’s 30 owners during a regularly scheduled conference call Monday and the group did not discuss the possibility of canceling the season or even putting it on hiatus.

https://www.mlb.com/news/commissioner-rob-manfred-on-covid-19-postponed-games

In team vote, vast majority of Nationals players voted against going to Miami for three-game series this weekend, sources tell The Athletic. Decision will rest with MLB.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 28, 2020

via Jay Jaffe

Why is the @Marlins playing in BAL in 2 days insane? Fair question.

-You have an out of control outbreak in your traveling party
-Anyone could be infected
-Anyone could've gotten infected as late as Sunday
-Today & Tuesday they could test negative but be incubating the virus https://t.co/ity25gHeZK

— Zachary Binney, PhD (@zbinney_NFLinj) July 27, 2020

where's the competitive spirit, of course you want 3 games against a leper colony

"the only thing that's firm" is your best-case scenario. That's it in a nutshell.

Baseball has always just been so pitiless. Why else would players play an insane 162-game season with like 1 day off per week? Just squeeze the players for everything.

There was an article on ESPN about E-Rod's myocarditis that was written entirely around the question of 'When do you think you can pitch again, Eduardo?' If you get hurt in baseball, it's regarded as weakness. And then they forget about you.

agreed in general but

Why else would players play an insane 162-game season with like 1 day off per week?

because it's fun! I miss playing baseball.

if there were an abundance of caution, there wouldn't be a season. wonder if the nats just opt-out en masse if mlb makes them go to miami

meanwhile, patrick mahomes has joined the royals ownership group

oh it's fun for the fans, certainly :)

yes the "abundance of caution" line.. my god

I think it's fun for the players, too. I'm not saying it's not a grind or they don't relish off days—but I think *most* players enjoy and look forward to playing as often as they do.

Phillies under this plan would return to play Friday against the Blue Jays at Citizens Bank Park - as the visiting team (under a previous plan due to Jays’ inability to play in Canada). Team would be isolated until then, not technically quarantined. https://t.co/Np6OcS3o6h

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 28, 2020

mlbtr:

The current plan is for the Marlins to be held out from playing until “at least” next Monday, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Incorporating doubleheaders and making use of some off-days could help to make up ground in the schedule, although with only a week’s worth of off-days worked into the existing schedule, there are some potential pitfalls with that approach as well.

maybe every team should only have one another team they play, a 55-game series, and then at the end there's a banquest for the 15 world champions, in Buffalo

OTHER / BANQUET

Confirming the @AdamSpolane report the Astros are set to sign 43-year-old Fernando Rodney from the Sugar Land Skeeters, pending physical. They desperately need some bullpen experience, and he has it.

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) July 28, 2020