Just five days into the new and shortened baseball season, it now seems like it could be in jeopardy. Last night, The New York Yankees postponed their scheduled game against the Philadelphia Phillies after eleven players of the Miami Marlins 33-man squad tested positive for coronavirus COVID-19.
Now, the Yankees have canceled tonight’s game as well. Philadelphia manager Joe Girardi confirmed the decision in an interview with MLB Network Radio.
The Phillies engaged in a rapid round of COVID-19 response tests Tuesday following a weekend series against the Marlins in Philadelphia. Team personnel took saliva tests and so far there are no positive cases. Regardless, the team will do another round in staggered shifts at Citizen’s Bank Park where they play.
”The fact that we haven’t had anyone test positive yet is great, but there’s too much at stake when you talk about players and their health and their family’s health,” Girardi said. ”There are guys that have little children at home or wives that are pregnant or a parent that is high risk. There’s too much at risk here not to say: ‘Hey, we’ve got to back off for two days and let’s make sure.’ I think it’s smart what baseball is doing here and then we’ll go from there. We had some players that probably had some trepidation (playing against the Marlins) on Sunday because there’s close contact.”
The Yankees spent Monday in a hotel in Philadelphia after the game was postponed. They will returning to New York today, where they are scheduled to host the Phillies on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Phillies would take a bus to New York on Wednesday, pending the results of their latest COVID-19 tests.
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”My fear always is, if there’s one person who has it, there’s probably more,” Girardi said. ”I don’t know if any of us thought there’d be, I think they’re up to 17 cases now, 15 players, devastating for the Marlins. There were some anxious moments for me today not knowing the results I’d get for my team. I think it’s really smart of baseball to wait one more day just because the incubation period is 2 to 14 days and I know we can’t wait 14 days. But I think we have to be really smart about this and after thinking about it, I think that this could happen more than one time with an organization. If everyone doesn’t play 60 games, I think that’s all right. We want to get to the playoffs. That’s the important thing. If a team plays 57 games, you go by winning percentage to take the playoff teams and you go from there.”
Miami’s home opener against Baltimore was postponed, as was Tuesday’s finale of the two-game series at Marlins Park.
The Phillies broke down the visitors’ clubhouse “to bare bones” Sunday night, according to vice president of business affairs Howard Smith, and fumigated the room “above and beyond” their normal protocol.
SOURCE: Yahoo Sports
