After an 18th Miami Marlins player and two St. Louis Cardinals tested positive for coronavirus, Major League Baseball was forced to postpone Friday afternoon's game between the Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers. That added to the long list of Marlins games already sitting on the shelf.
This is a troubling trend around baseball, and one that has so many around the sport worried that it might be too much to manage.
Count former Washington Nationals infielder and current MLB Network analyst Mark DeRosa as someone who's very concerned about the state of Major League Baseball:
"The numbers are gonna be so skewed, the players are gonna get so frustrated," DeRosa said Friday on MLB Network. "And I don't know what the answer is scheduling wise. You don't know what team is gonna pop up. Perfect example you started to see last night -- the rain delays and certain things. Players wanna stay safe from COVID, they also want to protect their health playing. We're seeing a lot of guys getting dinged up early, and I think a lot of that has to do with start and stop and how we're trying to figure out."
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There are now six teams postponing games due to positive coronavirus tests, including the Nats, who were supposed to start a three-game series in Miami Friday.
Positive tests were certainly expected, but one of the big issues surrounding all this is that no one seems to have a threshold as to when it's too much. MLB has said it will start doing seven inning double headers starting Aug. 1 which can help make up games, but what if another team has a major outbreak like the Marlins?
The NBA and NHL have had great early returns on their bubble formats, and many are suggesting MLB should do the same. But the logistics of pausing the season to reformat everything would be a nightmare.
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DeRosa did add though, he thinks baseball is still doing all they can to try and make this work. "The thing I would say to the players," DeRosa continued, "it's easy for me to sit on this couch. Believe in your heart that Rob Manfred is trying. I know they're probably not agreeing with that statement because of everything that went on to get back on the field. But from a safety standpoint, the league's going to the Nth degree to try and get this thing done."
Whether or not that Nth degree will be enough, certainly still needs to be determined.
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Former National Mark DeRosa on MLB postponements: 'Players are gonna get so frustrated' originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
