Monday was not a good day for Major League Baseball. Did the idea of playing baseball at home stadiums sound scary to you? If it didn’t, it does now. The Miami Marlins have gone down ill with Coronavirus and, as expected, it has spread to numerous team members. 18 members of the organization have tested positive and the number could keep growing. Miami’s season is pretty much over now as no team can be competitive with a sick roster and that includes the likes of Jose Urena and Garrett Cooper.
The snowball is rolling and it gets bigger by the day. However, there are some ways to stop it. It is only up to the league to follow them.
Do Not Let the Marlins Play
First and foremost, don’t let the Marlins play. The big fish is now a warning sign and a threat to anyone traveling to Florida. No Phillies’ members have tested positive after their Opening Day series but, not everyone will be this lucky. Florida has reported the second-most cases in the U.S just behind California with over 440 thousand and there’s no reason to expose the Marlins Phillies or any other team.
While this may sound radical, it has been done outside of baseball. Both FC Dallas and Nashville SC pulled out of the MLS Is Back Tournament amid positive Coronavirus cases. This was done with the safety of themselves and the rest of the bubble in mind. The bubble is another concept MLB should copy from the MLS and frankly, every other league in America.
How to Bubble the MLB
An MLB bubble looks more and more like a possibility as days go by. To be honest, it makes no sense teams are still playing in their ballparks when this was part of MLB’s original plan to return to action. Ironically, they’ve orchestrated a season that fits the boundaries of a bubble like a glove.
The original MLB bubble was initially met with resistance as the thought of keeping more than 10,000 people away from home didn’t go well with players. This was two months ago, things were different back then.
The season has been shrunk to merely eight weeks, making an Arizona lockdown look more like a summer camp rather than a full MLB regular season. Players are still able to opt out, so no one has to go to the desert if they don’t want to.
Their shortened MLB bubble would have no shortage of fields thanks to Chase Field and the multiple Spring Training facilities. Nonetheless, for this to work testing would have to be done exclusively by the league. This, after reports of Nationals’ slugger Juan Soto receiving conflicting test results. Mixed results are common among COVID 19 patients; however, eliminating team-administrated tests would streamline the process and avoid any potential confusion. They must pack the show and send it to Arizona before the season is lost at the hands of the virus.
Do it Before It’s Too Late
MLS does it, the NBA, WNBA, and the NHL. Everyone has a bubble and none of them have been perfect. Nevertheless, they greatly diminish any risks. Major League Soccer, for instance, has only had a single confirmed case over the past two weeks.
League, players, and, owners fought furiously over the season during the spring. Now, it is time to save what you fought for and put everyone in the MLB Bubble as it is the only logical choice for survival.
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