Marlins Benched Through Sunday Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

MIAMI, FL — With four more members of the Miami Marlins reportedly testing positive for the coronavirus Tuesday, Major League Baseball announced the fish will stay benched at least through Sunday as the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals all have had to undergo scheduling changes as a result of the Marlins coronavirus outbreak.

"Given the current circumstances, MLB believes that it is most prudent to allow the Marlins time to focus on providing care for their players and planning their baseball operations for a resumption early next week," the league said in a statement Tuesday.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez was critical of the Major League Baseball approach to allow players and staff to interact with the community.

"I think the NBA has got the right formula," the mayor said. "If you think that somehow you're going to be playing, and then your players are going to go back in the community and you're not going to get COVID-19 on your team, I don't know who is advising you."

Gimenez said he expects the Marlins to follow coronavirus protocols when they return to the Miami area.

"They should follow the protocol, the medical protocol," Gimenez said. "If somebody's been exposed — just like any other person — they need to be tested and self-quarantined for a while. That's the normal protocol. That's what we would ask them to do."

USA Today baseball columnist Bob Nightengale said on Pittsburgh radio station 93.7 F.M. the Marlins outbreak may stem from the team's recent stop in Atlanta.

"I think a couple of guys went out in Atlanta," Nightengale told radio listeners. "I believe some guys got careless. At least one guy did for sure and went out, and I think, he came back positive and spread it around."

While Major League Baseball officials did not say how many members of the Marlins organization tested positive for the coronavirus, ESPN reported the team had a total of 13 players and coaches who tested positive for the coronavirus as of Monday The network reported four additional positive cases in the Marlins organization on Tuesday bringing the total to 17.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the remainder of the home-and-home series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees has been postponed," the league said. That included a planned game in Philadelphia Tuesday night and upcoming games in New York with the Yankees on Wednesday and Thursday.

Baltimore was to play in Miami Tuesday night while Miami was to play in Baltimre on Wednesday and Thursday. The Nationals had been scheduled to play at Marlins Park on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

"As a result of these postponements, the Yankees will now play the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on Wednesday and Thursday in order to create more scheduling flexibility later in the season," the league said. "Additional rescheduling during the week of August 3 will be announced later this week."

Marlins CEO and former Yankee great Derek Jeter said his team has imposed a daily testing schedule and will impose additional preventive measures during road trips.

"All of our players, coaches and staff are, understandably, having a difficult time enduring this experience," Jeter said Tuesday. "After receiving additional test results on our major league team this morning, we reached out to the commissioner's office with concern for the health and safety of our team as well as our opponents."

League officials said the response outlined in the joint Major League Baseball and Major League Baseball Players Association operations manual was "triggered immediately" upon learning of the cluster of positive cases within the Marlins organization. That included the provisions for contact tracing, quarantining and testing close contacts.

"The Marlins personnel who tested positive remain in isolation and are receiving care," the league said. Officials said the health and safety protocols were designed with a "challenging circumstance like the one facing the Marlins in mind."

The league said it conducted more than 6,400 tests since Friday with no new positives of "on-field personnel" from any of the other 29 teams.

"This outcome is in line with encouraging overall data since the June 27 start of testing.," Major League Baseball officials said. "Through last Thursday, July 23, 99 of the 32,640 samples — 0.3 percent — had been positive."

Jeter said the Marlins looks forward to returning to Miami where the team had a "successful and healthy" Spring 2.0 though he did not say when the club would return.

"For the time being, we will remain in Philadelphia and gather information in order to make informed decisions and prepare for our return to action next week," he said.

The Marlins were in first place of the National League East as of Tuesday night following a 2-1 start against the Phillies in Philadelphia last weekend.

The team had been scheduled to play its home opener against the Baltimore Orioles Monday night at Marlins Park but that game was postponed.

The 1-2 Phillies were scheduled to play the 2-1 Yankees on Monday in Philadelphia, but that game was also postponed.

The Yankees were tied for second in the American League East as of Tuesday night along with the 2-1 Orioles behind the 4-1 Tampa Bay Rays.

The Phillies were in fourth place in the National League East with a 1-2 record ahead of only the 1-4 Washington Nationals.