MLB’s coronavirus crisis continues as Phillies report two positive tests for staff members

While there was no clear evidence the Phillies’ infections — which the team said were of a coach and a member of the home clubhouse staff — came from the Marlins, the teams played three games over the weekend at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park, even as the Marlins’ outbreak grew from one player Friday to four by Sunday. By Thursday, with both teams temporarily shut down, the Marlins were up to 17 players and two coaches testing positive.

No Phillies players have tested positive, and MLB has reported zero positive tests of any player, outside the Marlins, since July 24. However, three Phillies staff members have tested positive since the weekend, including a visitors’ clubhouse attendant.

A statement from the Phillies on Thursday said all activity at Citizens Bank Park was canceled “until further notice,” and the Phillies’ three-game series this weekend at home against the Toronto Blue Jays was postponed — bringing to 14 the number of games postponed in the wake of the Marlins’ outbreak.

In attempting to play this season outside the “bubble” models used by the NBA, the WNBA and MLS — instead keeping its 30 teams in 30 different stadiums and traveling between cities — MLB was aware of the risk of outbreaks and accounted for them, in part, by allowing teams to carry 30 players each, with an additional 30-man supplemental roster. However, the extent of the Marlins’ outbreak surprised MLB officials, who before the season drafted a 113-page document containing the health and safety protocols for 2020.

Even as MLB investigates the origins of the Marlins’ outbreak and weighs changes to those protocols, another immediate issue is maintaining the flow and competitive integrity of the season schedule.

The rash of postponements in the wake of the Marlins’ outbreak altered the schedules of six teams. The Marlins, who remain in self-isolation at their Philadelphia hotel, and the Phillies are sidelined until at least Monday, by which point they will have been off for a week.

The Blue Jays and Washington Nationals will have the weekend off as a result of the postponements. The Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees had two games postponed this week.

The postponements and the small window in which to make up games make it likely some teams will wind up playing fewer than 60 games this season, even if the season is completed, in which case division standings and playoff berths could be decided by winning percentage.

Source:WP