Weekend series in Philly postponed
Now, there are two MLB teams tasked with making up a week’s worth of games wiped out by a COVID-19 outbreak and almost guaranteed not to finish their 60-game schedules.
The Phillies postponed a weekend series against the Blue Jays, Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo said Thursday, after a member of the Phillies’ coaching staff and a home clubhouse employee tested positive Wednesday, resulting in the closure of Citizens Bank Park.
The Phillies and Marlins have not played since Sunday, when Miami opted to go forth with its game at Philadelphia after four of its players tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Seventeen Marlins players and two staff members have now tested positive, and their season was paused until at least Monday.
Now, the Phillies join them in having seven games postponed.
Phillies players have for the moment dodged infection from their game against the Marlins, as they have been tested daily since Monday with no reported positives.
They were scheduled to resume their season Saturday with a doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park; Toronto was technically the home team for the three-game series but is playing all of its games on the road after Canadian immigration authorities barred them from playing in their home country due to an enduring wave of coronavirus cases across the USA. The Blue Jays are scheduled to move into temporary quarters at their Class AAA Buffalo, New York, affiliate with a game Aug. 11.
The Phillies held a workout at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday, their first since Sunday’s game. The Phillies, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, are expected to make up four games with New York from Monday to Thursday next week – two at Yankee Stadium, two at Citizens Bank Park.
Meanwhile, the competitive integrity of this 2020 campaign is coming under increasing fire. While the Marlins and Phillies will be frozen on three games – Miami at 2-1, Philly 1-2 – the vast majority of major league clubs will have played 10 games by the end of the weekend. In addition to the Marlins, Phillies and Blue Jays, the Nationals – scheduled to play at Miami for three games – will be idle this weekend.
“That’s a great question. And I don’t know how to answer it,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said of the competitive equity issues on a video call Thursday. “All I know is, we’re ready to play this game (Thursday), and whatever MLB tells us to do next, that’s who we’re going to play.”
The hailstorm of makeups increases the likelihood of two scenarios baseball purists might not like: That the season ends with teams having played an unequal number of games, forcing winning percentage to decide playoff berths, and that doubleheaders might be limited two seven-inning games.
The Orioles and Yankees, slated to play four games this week against the Marlins and Phillies, respectively, slightly mitigated the rash of postponements by pivoting to play two games against each other in Baltimore. Those clubs now have two total games to make up, with the Blue Jays and Nationals needing three games.