Baseball's Push to Reopen Hits First Major Problem

The game is called not on account of something trivial like rain, but because of COVID. ESPN reporter Jeff Passan tweets that 13 players or coaches for the Miami Marlins have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent days, forcing the cancellation of the team's home opener Monday night against the Baltimore Orioles. Also called off is the New York Yankees game Monday night in Philadelphia, where the visiting Marlins just wrapped up a series. By the count of the Miami Herald, 11 of 33 players who traveled with the Marlins to Philadelphia last week have tested positive for the coronavirus.

"It's fair to say guys are concerned about things," says manager Don Mattingly, per the AP. "I think it's fair. We're talking about health." The team is currently still in Philadelphia after its flight home Sunday night was canceled amid the outbreak. Both the Herald and the AP say the development raises new doubts about Major League Baseball's hopes of conducting a shortened season amid the pandemic. More testing is underway, and "the members of the Marlins’ traveling party are self-quarantining in place while awaiting the outcome of those results,” says an MLB statement. (More Major League Baseball stories.)