In sickness and health, MLB ready for anything

FOR THOSE of us who like less fraternity and more animosity among teams — especially those who see each other frequently in intra-division games — here is a vote in favor of Buck Showalter’s lack of sympathy for the Red Sox suffering a stretch in which the flu ravaged pieces of the roster.

Before Boston and Baltimore began a two-game series Tuesday at Fenway Park, the Orioles manager told reporters his roster also has been struck by the flu bug, but tweaked: “Nobody really wants to hear somebody else complain about it. Our guys have done a good job not broadcasting it to the world.”

In fairness, the Red Sox could hardly avoid discussing the issue. They have had to quarantine players, and after the Red Sox left Detroit’s Comerica Park following a weekend series, the next team in, the Twins, asked the Tigers to disinfect the visiting clubhouse. Boston’s Mookie Betts, Mitch Moreland and Hanley Ramirez were affected by the flu, Ramirez to such an extent that he did not even join the team in Detroit for the four-game series.

It made me wonder — in an age when disease could travel so rapidly and strike so many, especially those together for a stretch in a confined area — if MLB has any kind of policy in place should a team reach a critical mass of ill players and be unable to field a team. A disaster plan exists for the truly horrific, for example, a team plane going down, but what if there just were not enough healthy players to field a team for a game or series?

MLB commissioner’s spokesman Pat Courtney, in an email response, wrote: “Under our rules, a club can place disabled players, whether as a result of injury or illness, on the 10day disabled list. If a club is unable to field a competitive club as a result of an extraordinary event, such as a debilitating illness affecting a majority of the club’s players, the commissioner has the authority to take necessary action, after discussing the issue with all affected stakeholders, to protect the integrity of the game. Fortunately we have not been faced with such a situation in recent memory.”