Major League Baseball

UPDATE: MLB Continues Postponements

Updated Jul. 28, 2020 5:11 p.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

Major League Baseball made the decision on Tuesday to postpone all Miami Marlins games through Sunday. The remainder of the home-and-home series between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees has also been postponed.

In lieu of playing the Phillies, the Yankees will now face the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday and Thursday, providing the league more scheduling flexibility later in the season.

The postponement decisions follow Monday's news that the Miami Marlins, who played a weekend series in Philadelphia, had a spike in COVID-19 cases.

The team remained in Philadelphia to undergo additional testing, and on Tuesday, MLB on FOX’s Ken Rosenthal reported that four additional Marlins players tested positive.

Prior to Tuesday's updates, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred sat down with MLB Network’s Tom Verducci to give his thoughts on the matter:

“I don’t put this in the nightmare category. Obviously, we won’t want any player to get exposed. It’s not a positive thing, but I don’t see it as a nightmare.”

In the interview, Manfred also allayed concerns about the season potentially being canceled or going on hiatus:

"I think most of the owners realize that we built protocols anticipating that we would have positive tests at some point during the season. That the protocols were built in order to allow us to continue to play through those positives.

"And I think there was support for the notion that we believe that the protocols are adequate to keep our players safe."

Meanwhile, the Marlins announced they're moving to a daily testing schedule.

Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke about the outbreak on Good Morning America on Tuesday. The Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said the season is in question, but doesn’t necessarily need to come to an abrupt halt.

“I know that Major League Baseball –  the players, the owners, the managers – have put a lot of effort into getting together and putting protocols that we feel would work … But you just have to watch this.

"This could put it in danger. I don’t believe they need to stop, but we just need to follow this and see what happens with other teams on a day-by-day basis."

With no positive results in the most recent batch of tests for the Phillies, the early signs are encouraging for the Phillies.

MLB's statement reads that there have been no new positive tests of on-field personnel from any of the other 29 clubs since July 24. The league also committed to adjusting protocols as necessary, per the statement.

"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. We will continue to bolster our protocols and make any necessary adjustments."

This is a developing story.

share

Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

Miami Marlins

Major League Baseball

New York Yankees

Philadelphia Phillies