MLB teams can 'play through' hiccups

ORLANDO • Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Rob Manfred defended the sport's Covid-19 safety protocols on Monday after positive coronavirus tests for the Miami Marlins threatened to derail the season four days after it began.

According to an ESPN report, at least 13 Marlins players have tested positive in recent days.

The Marlins opened their season on Friday in Philadelphia and were set to return to Florida on Sunday for their scheduled Monday game against the Baltimore Orioles. But they put off travelling after the positive tests. The team's Tuesday game against the Orioles in Miami will also be postponed.

The Philadelphia Phillies were scheduled to host the New York Yankees on Monday but that game was postponed because the Marlins had used the stadium.

MLB said the games were shelved while it conducts "additional Covid-19 testing", with the Marlins self-quarantining in Philadelphia and awaiting the results.

If the tests are negative, the team will play the Orioles today in Baltimore. The delays are a potentially ominous situation for the MLB and other professional sports leagues in the United States hoping to forge ahead during the pandemic.

"Most of the (MLB) owners realise that we built protocols anticipating that we would have positive tests at some point during the season," Manfred told MLB Network.

"The protocols were built in order to allow us to continue to play through those positives... We believe the protocols are adequate to keep our players safe."

Unlike the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association (NBA), which are resuming their seasons this week, MLB opted not to conduct play inside bubbles, a decision Manfred said was rooted in the practical realities of professional baseball.

"We would have had to have multiple locations probably just in order to have enough facilities to make it work. The numbers of people involved and the numbers of people to support the number of players was much, much larger in our sport," he said.

While resolute that games could continue safely, he said there were circumstances in which the season could be suspended.

National Basketball Players Association president Chris Paul had just finished Monday's practice when he was informed of the outbreak among the Marlins. Paul, the Oklahoma City Thunder guard, then echoed the sentiment that others across the Orlando campus have expressed: He is glad the NBA's restart is being held inside the Walt Disney World bubble.

"I know, right now, this seems to be the safest way possible (to play)," he said.

The 22 NBA teams invited to its restart have been at Disney World for almost three weeks, with zero positive tests reported among the 346 players tested daily between July 13 and July 20. NBA players and coaches credit the league's stringent protocols for keeping everybody safe and healthy.

The NBA is spending at least US$180 million (S$249 million) with ESPN's parent company, Disney, on its testing operation to ensure that the league's 74th season ends the way the previous 73 did - with a champion crowned.

In addition to daily testing, team personnel are required to measure and record their temperatures, oxygen saturation levels and irregular health symptoms. Some are wearing an Oura ring, which can detect early signs of the coronavirus.

There is even an anonymous tip line available if somebody on campus is spotted breaking a rule.

"When you hear about (baseball) coaches or players coming down with this in their environment, it makes you think how grateful we have been here in the NBA," Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams said. "You think about those guys and their families, those guys and whatever long-term effects may come because of this virus."

REUTERS, NYTIMES