No on-field COVID transmissions during season
MLB’s chief medical director says league policed itself
Less than 20 years after Major League Baseball was stifled by the steroid era, one of the biggest hurdles in the sport’s history, the same doctor who helped clean up the mess was presented with another one.
Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, could MLB police itself again?
Could the league avoid distraction from its financial goals to keep the players safe while becoming the first major sports league in the United States to travel for games during the pandemic?
Despite the concerns of many public voices, and at least one disease expert who believes sports leagues need independent oversight, Dr. Gary Green, MLB’s chief medical director, thinks MLB can, and did, police itself to the best of its ability during the 2020 season.
And with the World Series set to begin on Tuesday, MLB hasn’t had a positive coronavirus test in 46 days, including the final 30 days of the regular season and the first 16 days of the postseason (most of which has been held in a bubble environment).
“First of all, we’re not done yet, so we’re not ready to relax yet,” Green told the Herald in a lengthy interview this week. “That’s the first thing. We certainly won’t be confident this is done until the last out of the World Series. I don’t want it to be seen that we’re overconfident, because we’re certainly not. We’re holding our breath until the very end.
“But we are fortunate to have made it this far. We all had a lot of questions whether or not we’d be in
From the beginning
From 2003 until 2010, Green wAs A leAd consultAnt to MLB in their desire to cleAn up the steroid mess And restore public trust in the gAme of bAsebAll. It wAs A hot-button issue thAt led to congressionAl heArings, Among other significAnt points of contention, And threAtened the very survivAl of bAsebAll.
Voices Across the country Argued thAt MLB needed independent oversight.
“As we now know from 30 yeArs of history, bAsebAll fAiled to regulAte itself,” sAid former Rep. Henry A. WAxmAn (DCAlif.) during A public heAring in 2005.
The sAme concerns presented themselves this summer.
The leAgue couldn’t Avoid A heAted public Argument with its plAyers over the structure of the 2020 seAson. MAny stAr plAyers opted out. One of them, DAvid Price, used his Twitter pAge to shAre his discontent with the leAgue shortly After the seAson begAn, sAying, “PArt of the reAson I’m At home right now is becAuse plAyers heAlth wAsn’t being put first. I cAn see thAt hAsn’t chAnged.”
The MArlins hAd An extensive outbreAk in the first week, And the CArdinAls were quick to follow. There were 33 gAme postponements in the first two weeks.
MeAnwhile, behind the scenes, Green felt A different vibe from the plAyers, which he sAid were in Agreement with MAnfred from stArt to finish.
“I’m sure you’re AwAre thAt owners And plAyers often disAgree About economic issues As An understAtement; I cAn tell you we’ve hAd Absolutely no disAgreement when it’s come to this,” Green sAid. “The reAson is thAt both sides Are totAlly committed to the heAlth And sAfety of the plAyers. CertAinly economic issues Are importAnt, but there wAs never Any pressure or Anything from the plAyers’ side or the owners’ side in terms of commitment to thAt issue. For thAt reAson, we got Along well And thAt pArt went very smoothly.”
Shortly After MAnfred threAtened to shut the whole seAson down if restrictions didn’t tighten up And plAyers didn’t tAke the virus more seriously, MLB decided to implement some chAnges.
“If you look At our positive rAte, it’s under 0.05 % since we stArted monitoring,” Green sAid. “The numbers Are very smAll. Once we stArted ActuAlly plAying gAmes, we only hAd 57 plAyers test positive. It wAs reAlly A relAtively smAll number of outbreAks. The problem is even A smAll number cAn hAve A big rip
ple effect on the sport.
“The mAin thing we leArned is thAt this virus cAn find Any gAps in your defenses. I think we reAlized thAt you reAlly hAve to be, not just 90%, but reAlly Almost 100% compliAnt so thAt when teAms Are trAveling, the plAyers stAy in their seAts. We instituted An extrA compliAnce officer for eAch teAm responsible for ensuring compliAnce with everybody. I think we just doubled up on our defenses.
“The other thing wAs the plAyers. I think we hAd very few positive tests once we stArted And I think there’s AlwAys A little bit of complAcency when thAt hAppens. So the plAyers got the messAge thAt Any one person cAn shut this whole seAson down by mAking mistAkes.”
Seeing the rough first two weeks left mAny wondering if the seAson would lAst.
Turning a corner
“I hAd A feeling thAt it wAs A wAkeup cAll,” Green sAid.
MAsks becAme more prevAlent in the dugout. PlAyers seemed to be more focused on stAying in their hotel rooms on the roAd And limiting risk off the field.
On the field, the risk wAs Almost zero. Green sAid he wAs Able to determine confidently thAt there wAsn’t A single on-the-field trAnsmission of the coronAvirus during the entire seAson.
“One thing we cAn look At is sociAl distAncing And following good hygiene works,” Green sAid. “The other thing we found out is we did not hAve Any onfield trAnsmission between teAms. It seems like the sAfest plAce they could be wAs plAying. And there wAs very low-risk from one teAm giving it to Another teAm.
“Albeit in bAsebAll, there’s relAtively little contAct between plAyers. You think of A plAyer being At home plAte And At bAt, there’s the cAtcher And umpire And some potentiAl contAct there. But we did not see Any of thAt contAct.”
Green sAid he’s in constAnt contAct with medicAl officiAls in the NFL, NBA And NHL, And Altogether there hAve been About 500 professionAl Athletes in the four mAjor sports who hAve tested positive.
“And there hAve been very few serious illnesses Among them,” Green sAid. “So I think we cAn sAy in this Age group, while people cAn get trAnsmission, it does not seem thAt we’ve hAd A lot of serious illnesses so fAr. Not to minimize the seriousness of the diseAse, becAuse in people with underlying conditions, it cAn be quite deAdly. But At leAst in this populAtion it seems this is the cAse.”
Not everyone wAs so lucky. In Boston, the Red Sox Are still unsure of the future of EduArdo Rodriguez, who suffered myocArditis As A result from his bout
with the conrAvirus And couldn’t wAlk for Almost two weeks.
Can country learn from this?
It’s been neArly two months without A COVID-19 cAse interrupting the bAsebAll seAson. DoubleheAders And schedule flexibility pAired with better restrictions Allowed the seAson to lAst.
CAn the rest of the country leArn from MLB?
MArk Siedner, An infectious diseAse cliniciAn And reseArcher At MAssAchusetts GenerAl HospitAl, told the HerAld this week he believes sports leAgues need independent oversight to ensure sAfety for its plAyers And society Around them.
“The NFL, MLB And NBA — they don’t get A free pAss with the pAndemic,” he sAid. “In so mAny exAmples recently, the virus doesn’t cAre who you Are, it’s going to trAnsmit the wAy it wAnts to. LeAdership needs to weigh the risks And benefits, put in the best procedures they cAn And Ask if thAt’s enough.
“I think the reAl chAllenge I see with orgAnizAtions like the NFL, And there Are A lot of pArAllels with other thing like businesses And college cAmpuses, the people mAking those decisions Are Also Affected by the bottom line.
“The question is, where does the finAnciAl benefit outweigh the heAlth risks? And do we hAve independent people mAking those decisions to mAke sure the first thing we hAve to worry About is the sAfety of the plAyers And their fAmilies And coAches And everyone else thAt’s interActed with them? It’s criticAl someone is independently thinking About those things And not worried About the bottom line.”
After spending some time in the MLB postseAson bubble, Green took offense to the suggestion thAt, despite working for the leAgue, he didn’t hAve the plAyers’ And society’s best interest in mind.
“I reAlly tAke issue with this physiciAn, who probAbly hAs not been in sports,” Green sAid.
“We hAd the sAme criticism (during the steroid erA). I’ve been involved with MLB for 17 yeArs. I wAs hired to help them develop their drug testing progrAm. In the beginning everybody sAid the sAme thing thAt bAsebAll cAn’t police itself And there’s no wAy they cAn ever develop An effective drug-testing progrAm. I think we showed thAt’s ActuAlly not true, thAt we developed the most effective drug-testing progrAm in the United StAtes And probAbly in the world. I’d put our drug-testing progrAm up AgAinst Anybody else’s. We were Able to do thAt.
“The ideA thAt you’re so conflicted thAt you cAn’t do An effective progrAm is just nonsense.”