TRAIN MAKES NO STOPS
Crazy Met sked includes pair of Subway twin-bills, 9 games in 6 days
The Mets have been cleared to return to play Tuesday with a doubleheader against the Marlins. The series kicks off a revised schedule that features nine games in six days and 34 games in 34 days.
The Amazin’s received all negative tests for three consecutive days after a player and staffer tested positive for COVID-19 last Thursday in Miami. The Mets were given the green light to resume their regular-season schedule, which is now packed to the brim to make up for four postponed games.
The Mets had six people — the player and staffer who tested positive plus four ‘close contacts’ — stay behind in Miami on Thursday while the rest of the team flew back to New York.
The Mets will host the Marlins at Citi Field on Tuesday for game one of the doubleheader at 5:10 p.m. The Mets will be the home team in the first game, while the Marlins will be the home team in the second game, which will make up last Thursday’s postponement. The Mets wrap up the series against the Marlins on Wednesday and Thursday with single games.
They remain in the Big Apple to play a doubleheader against the Yankees on Friday, a single game on Saturday and another doubleheader on Sunday. The final Subways Series matchup of the season will take place on Sept. 3 at Citi Field.
“I think it reminds us that we’re not immune to exposure,” Brodie Van Wagenen said of the Mets being one of four MLB teams to contract the virus. “It reminds us that the protocols that Major League Baseball has put in place, the efforts that we’ve taken as an organization are smart, and they’re the right ones.
“We have to be smart and careful every day. We can’t let up. If we are lucky enough to only have two cases so far during the season and we don’t have any more going forward, I think we’ll consider ourselves very fortunate and be proud of the protocols that are in place and be proud of our ability to execute them.”
The Mets are still unclear on their rotation this week against the Marlins and Yankees. The decision will be based on which pitchers work with coach Jeremy Hefner on Monday — the team’s first day working out at Citi Field since learning of the positive tests on staff — following “structured and staggered workouts,” per Van Wagenen. The GM did not rule out Steven Matz, who was demoted to the bullpen last week, making an appearance in the rotation as the team attempts to hit the ground running.
The positive-tested player and staffer are symptomatic while the four people who were deemed “close contacts” have repeatedly tested negative for the virus. Van Wagenen said the “close contacts” include people who came within six feet for over 15 minutes of the positivetested player and staffer. Those four individuals were in the process of returning to New York on Monday.
The player and staffer’s worst symptoms have alleviated, according to Van Wagenen. The GM said, without going into detail on specific symptoms, the peak of their challenges existed within a 36-hour range. Neither was hospitalized for those symptoms, and they have continued to feel a lack of energy.
Van Wagenen was not sure when the player or staffer would feel comfortable enough to return to the team, and the Mets would make sure they are staffed from a coaching standpoint when and if they reappear.
“While there’s so much that remains unknown, our hope is that they’re through the worst of it and that they can continue to recover quickly,” he said.
Van Wagenen and the Mets may never know for certain where or how the player and staffer contracted the virus, but he thought it came from “an outside spot.” The GM felt comfortable the exposure to the disease did not come from player-to-player or coach-to-coach, seeing as how the Mets were successfully able to avoid a team outbreak. The Mets were tested Thursday through Sunday and all results returned negative.
“I know that our players take it seriously, and we have a high degree of confidence that this exposure that we received is not as a result of anyone misbehaving or failure to be responsible with their own safety,” Van Wagenen said.
After Monday, the Mets have just three off days through the remainder of the season. The Amazin’s will put an emphasis on preserving their pitchers while being careful of injuries as they enter the second half of this year’s odd schedule in third place in the National League East on a 12-14 record.
“Trying to cover so many games in such few days, it’s a challenge for everybody,” Van Wagenen said. “Right now, we’re in a position where we only have four games to make up. That may change as time goes on. We know we’re not going to be playing fewer games as we go. We know it’s only going to be more challenges.”