With the equivalent of half of their game day roster testing positive for the coronavirus, the home opener for the Miami Marlins has been canceled, according to a report.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan delivered the news every fan has been dreading, on Monday morning:
The Marlins' home opener against the Baltimore Orioles tonight has been canceled, sources tell ESPN, as the team remains in Philadelphia and continues to undergo testing.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 27, 2020
The eight new positive cases are in addition to the four positive cases the team already knew they had. The Marlins did play on Sunday, against the Philadelphia Phillies. Close attention will be paid to the Phillies upcoming testing results.
This is devastating news for a sport that just restarted their season on Wednesday.
Major League Baseball is the only major sports league attempting a restart outside of a “bubble.” The NBA, a bubble league, has reported no new cases since July 13th. In addition, Major League Soccer, another bubble league, has had zero positive cases through 884 tests.
Given that track record and the fact that an MLB team has already had to cancel a game, the wisdom of the league and the players union to not use a bubble approach will be questioned.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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