Season will open against the Phillies on July 24

Schedule released as positive tests for virus, opt-outs continue to mount in MLB

If the Marlins are going to compete in Major League Baseball’s shortened 60-game season, they’re going to have to earn it. That’s assuming everything goes ahead as scheduled, since over the weekend the Marlins confirmed that at least four players had tested positive for novel coronavirus.

MLB announced its schedule Monday evening, with Miami set to open up on the road against the Philadelphia Phillies at 7:05 p.m. on July 24.

Due to the challenges presented by COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 schedule will be regional, with 40 games against your own division and 20 interleague games against the geographically equivalent division in the other league, so as to limit travel. Those latter 20 games will include six games against the interleague rival; for the Marlins, that will be the Tampa Bay Rays.

That offers a real mountain for Miami to climb, now staring at 40 games against their NL East foes, all of whom won at least 80 games last season, and 20 against the AL East, a division renowned for its difficulty.

After a three-game set with the Phillies, Miami will play four games against Baltimore — two at home, two on the road — with a chance to build some momentum against the weakest team in the AL East before getting into the heart of the schedule.

“We know that we’re going to want to hit the ground running, and I think we’re prepared for that,” said Marlins utility player John Berti before the announcement Monday. “That just makes it all the more exciting, because it’s a pennant race from day one. It just makes every pitch, every play more important, which is what we want as baseball players.”

Miami’s schedule will have few breathers, though the month of September will be a particularly grueling gauntlet. The Marlins will close their season with 23 games in 24 days against teams that won at least 81 games a year ago, including a threegame series against the 103-win New York Yankees to close the year.

But Miami will not be dissuaded by the

uphill climb.

“We always deal with Tampa, who are obviously really good in this moment, this year and recent history,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “The Yankees are always good, Boston’s always good. Obviously Toronto is young and coming. Baltimore’s a little bit like, a lot like us, maybe a year behind us as far as trying to build something. Your main thing is get yourselves ready to play. Get our team where we’re at. And then knowing, this is not a typical year.”

On the latter point, the league’s announcement comes at a moment fraught with uncertainty about proceeding with a season. Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander David Price and Atlanta Braves right-hander Felix Hernandez opted out of the season over the weekend, joining the Washington Nationals’ third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, Rockies outfielder Ian Desmond and others who have opted out of playing the season. That list mounts by the day. To boot, three teams — the Nationals, St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros — shut down their facilities over delays in testing results, as they await results from tests administered on Friday.

“If you can’t really nail the easy part — which is right now and just our players — we’ve got a big hill to climb,” Chicago Cubs star third baseman Kris Bryant told reporters Monday.

The Marlins, meanwhile, tested every player Monday. They have kept their facilities open and, despite four confirmed positive results this weekend, maintain an optimistic outlook on the season.

“We see the news,” Mattingly said. “We see how guys think and what they have to say. It’s been a pretty — we haven’t had that feel here. We haven’t had that vibe that guys are nervous about playing. Maybe it’s just our age or our group, guys don’t seem to be overly concerned. We want them to be concerned enough to take care of themself and be careful.”

But is he confident a season will still happen?

“I feel fairly confident that it will,” Mattingly said. “Obviously I feel like there are still some kinks that we’re working out with testing and getting results back and things like that. But I am confident. I feel like we’ll get that together and get this thing off the ground.”