The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Three players test postitive for COVID
Three players were positive for COVID-19 among 900 samples during the second week of spring training testing. Major League Baseball said there had been 15 positives overall among 5,236tests.
NEW YORK >> Three players were positive for COVID-19 among 900 samples during the second week of spring training testing.
Major League Baseball said Friday there had been 15 positives overall among 5,236 tests thus far during spring training, a positive rate of 0.3%. Positive tests included 12 players and three staff.
Weekly monitoring testing included five positives among 13,208 tests, a rate of 0.4%. Positives included two players and three staff.
That left figures for monitor testing at five positives among 15,506 tests, a rate of 0.3%, and figures for all testing at 20 positives among 20,742 tests, a rate of 0.1%.
There have been 14 positive tests among players and six staff, covering 14 of the 30 teams.
All players on 40-man rosters and players with minor league contracts invited to big league training camp are screened. Also tested are all other on-field personnel such as managers, coaches and athletic trainers, strength and conditioning staff and physicians.
Team owner, front office management, communications staff, groundskeepers, clubhouse and travel staff and ballpark operations employees who require access to restricted areas also are screened.
All individuals tested were required to maintain a five-day at-home quarantine and undergo screening
that included a PCR test, antibody test and contactless temperature check.
Under special rules this year, spring training games through March 13 may be shortened to five innings or seven innings if both teams agree, and spring training games from March 14-30 may be shortened to seven innings. Teams must notify MLB of an agreement on a shortened game by 5 p.m. Eastern time in the previous day. Any spring training game may be allowed to end in a tie after its scheduled length.
In addition, through March the manager of the
team playing defense may allow a half inning to end before the third out if a pitcher has thrown at least 20 pitches.
Pitchers also may re-enter during spring training games.
Before Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner tested positive during the sixth and final game of the World Series last Oct. 27, MLB said four days earlier that players had gone 54 consecutive days without any positive tests.
In the final figures released last year, MLB said it had collected 172,740 samples and that 91 had been
positive, or 0.05%. Fiftyseven of 91 positives have been players, and 21 of the 30 teams have had a person covered by the monitoring test positive.
MLB and the players’ association combined to spend about $35 million on COVID-19 testing and rules last year during pre-season training, which started July 1, the delayed and shortened 60-game season, and the expanded 16-team playoffs. There were 45 regularseason games postponed for COVID-19-related reasons last year but just two were not made up, between St. Louis and Detroit.
Ohio State and Alabama competing for a national championship is hardly an unusual occurrence for either school. It just tends to happen in football.
Six weeks after the Crimson Tide’s national championship game win over the Buckeyes, it just so happens that the two schools have a pair of the nation’s best basketball teams.
No. 4 Ohio State and No. 6 Alabama are hardly playing the part of sidekicks to football. Both are vying for high NCAA Tournament seed s and the Tide is trying to win its first Southeastern Conference title since 2002.
Alabama coach Nate Oats finds it “kind of absurd and ridiculous” when opposing coaches try to use that gridiron prowess as a negative against the Tide for hoops recruits.
“Yeah, football’s great here. They win national championships frequently,” said Oats, ‘Bama’s secondyear head coach. “It also brings in a lot of money. It also shows that the athletic department as a whole is real healthy. There’s a lot of positives that come with having a great football program. I think you see it here, you see it at Ohio State.”
In some ways, it’s a symbiotic relationship.
Football recruits get to see top hoops teams play on
their visits, at least where there is not a pandemic. Basketball and other programs benefit from the resources generated by a football program raking in many millions. Both get loads of free publicity for recruits.
Ohio State basketball coach Chris Holtmann said the football team’s success definitely raises the profile of the brand, but he’s not sure how much it means to elite basketball players shopping for a school.
“You know, there have been some ebbs and flows in terms of our program and in overall high-level achievement or success,”
Holtmann said. “I don’t know if that’s really reflected or coincided in any way with the football program here and their sustained excellence.”
The Buckeyes had their hopes for a No. 1 NCAA seed damaged with back to back losses to No. 3 Michigan and Michigan State. But they are still in the mix for a high seed.
Ohio State has had a strong basketball program well before this season, making the NCAA Tournament every year from 20092015. Ohio State made Final Four appearances in 2007 and 2012, a step Alabama has yet to take.
Alabama has only been to two NCAA Tournaments since 2006, but this has been a special year for Oats and his program. Alabama, which visits Mississippi State on Saturday night, is trying to close out its first SEC men’s basketball championship since 2002. A high seed in the NCAA Tournament awaits; the Tide has never been higher than a No. 2 seed (1987 and 2002) and is projected to potentially match it.
Both teams have had strong seasons even after losing stars to the NBA, Ohio State All-American Kaleb Wesson and Alabama point guard Kira Lewis Jr.
This season, Tide football coach Nick Saban has been able to watch more games than usual, if only on TV, with coronavirus-related recruiting restrictions limiting his usual January and February travel. He thinks success from any other program, whether it’s basketball or softball, benefits the others.
“I think there’s a lot of exposure lost if you don’t have good programs,” Saban said in a phone interview Thursday. “Just like for the basketball team to be doing well, be on ESPN, getting to March Madness and getting the exposure
“When you’re good at things it creates a lot of positive image and exposure for the university, and it’s a reflection on the athletic department’s commitment to a standard of excellence.”
His program has been
notable for both a wealth of titles and talent, and a hefty support staff. Oats has built out his own support staff to an extent, with the budget increasing more than $100,000 in the last fiscal year from Avery Johnson’s final season in 2018-19, up to $575,000.
He’s doubled the number of graduate assistants to four.
It’s nothing like the behemoth football staff, but Oats does have everything from a special assistant to the head coach to a director of operations and an operations coordinator.
On the court, Alabama forward Alex Reese is enjoying the ride.
“We’ve been playing really well. It’s been fun,” Reese said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to go out there and compete for national championships and stuff like that like the football team did.”