COVID-19 sweeps through Phillies’ visiting clubhouse, Marlins have ‘at least’ 14 cases

Editor’s note: This first appeared on AMNY.com

A COVID-19 outbreak has swept through the Miami Marlins’ clubhouse, impacting “at least 14” club members, as first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers on Monday morning. 

Having just completed a three-game series in Philadelphia Sunday against the Phillies, the Marlins are stranded in Pennsylvania to quarantine and undergo testing. 

Earlier on Sunday, their starting pitcher, Jose Urena, was scratched from his start for undisclosed reasons before manager Don Mattingly announced that his team would postpone their trip home to Miami until Monday — just hours before their home-opener against the Baltimore Orioles.

Monday night’s game between the Marlins and Orioles was canceled upon the revelation of Miami’s outbreak. 

Still, questions remain as to why the Marlins played at all on Sunday after already learning that three of their players tested positive for the virus earlier that day. 

A fourth player learned on Friday that he had tested positive. 

Regardless, they still played and defeated the Phillies — who now have been exposed to the virus as well and are set to begin a four-game series with the New York Yankees in Philadelphia on Monday night. 

There will likely be hesitancy from the Yankees to use the same visiting clubhouse the Marlins just used. The Phillies and Yankees were not immediately available for comment at the time of this article’s publishing. 

As for the Phillies, the question remains of how Major League Baseball will handle the outbreak in Philadelphia. As of Monday morning, their game at Citizens Bank Park has not been postponed.

Looking at how other sports leagues handled such outbreaks, Major League Soccer recently eliminated two teams from its return tournament when they were heavily impacted by COVID-19. 

In the NBA, when Utah Jazz star center Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus in March, the league asked teams who played the Jazz within the previous 10 days to undergo a 14-day self-isolation. 

A similar ask from MLB would derail its 60-game in 66-day season.