MLB’s Handling of the Coronavirus Sucks

It’s been just over a week and baseball is already not off to a hot start. Two teams missed a full week of games and another separate series was postponed due to COVID outbreaks. With the subpar restrictions and poor judgment by the league, I knew that something like this was bound to happen. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if the MLB doesn’t get through the 60 game season.

So far, 17 players on the Marlins and two coaches have tested positive, five more members of the Cardinals, and two members of the Phillies’ club…all within the last week! On the other hand, we have the NBA and NHL both reporting ZERO coronavirus cases since July 13 and 18, respectively. My issue is that the way the NBA and NHL are doing it was attainable for the MLB.

Both the NHL and NBA are putting their players in a “bubble” in set locations, with the NBA being in Orlando and the NHL being in Toronto and Edmonton. This allows them to isolate themselves from other people, keeping the possibility of an outbreak under control. If players do leave, they are required to quarantine for 10 days and take multiple COVID tests before returning to play. By forcing players to do this, the leagues have kept them safe and healthy.

The thing is, the MLB had the opportunity to do this by isolating teams in their Spring Training facilities in Arizona and Florida. Each team would have their field, facility, and hotel to stay in, with their only travel being within the state to other team’s fields. Everything else would be the same as it is now, with no spectators and minimal interaction with people outside of each team’s “bubble.” The players wouldn’t be allowed to go to restaurants or travel or do anything else that could potentially put others at risk.

So why didn’t baseball do this? For the same reason the season got started so late as-is: the owners. The owners are so worried about minimizing their losses this year, that it may have put their players and the likeness of the game at risk. The league has set records in revenue each year since 2001, so you’d think they could take a hit for one year in order to promote the game of baseball.

But the greediness of the owners just reared its ugly head again with the lack of safety for the players. If the owners had been willing to take this hit, the season would have started earlier in these Spring Training facilities. This would have allowed for there to be more than a measly 60 games and it would have made the players safer.

As much as I blame the owners, Rob Manfred has also done a poor job. His overseeing of this season’s set up was subpar. The league allowing the Marlins to play the Phillies last week after four players tested positive on the Marlins is absolutely ridiculous. Then, just this past weekend, he blamed the players for the spike in coronavirus cases and threatened to shut the league down. You can’t blame the players for getting sick when they are within the guidelines set forth by the league. It’s just an awful look by the league.

As a fan who’s been watching everything play out since Spring Training got canceled back in March, it’s obvious at this point that the MLB has done the worst job in caring for its player’s safety and wellbeing. This league obviously prioritizes revenue over the wellbeing of players. Hindsight is always 20-20, but an obvious choice was to play the games at the Spring Training facilities.