Opinion: Cardinals, Marlins show consequences of being careless with protocols during coronavirus pandemic

The St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins became baseball’s poster boys Monday on how careless, but not necessarily reckless, behavior can put a Major League season into utter chaos.

The Cardinals had seven players and six staff members test positive for COVID-19, postponing their upcoming four-game series against the Detroit Tigers and making them the third team who will have gone an entire week without playing a game.

“Needless to say,’’ Cardinals president John Mozeliak said, “we know it’s very real. It moves quickly. It moves silently.

“It can affect a lot of people fast.’’

The Marlins, who are scheduled to resume play Tuesday night in Baltimore, had 18 players and two staff members test positive, and will wind up spending 22 consecutive days on the road before returning to Miami.

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The players, who packed originally for a six-day trip, have had to try to exercise in their hotel rooms without using a gym. A few pitchers said they threw baseballs against a mattress in their room, with chairs stacked up to emulate hitters. A few players ran up and down the halls for cardio workouts. The Marlins had their first workout Sunday at the University of Pennsylvania, only to have the pitching mounds covered in mud.

Now, the Cardinals are going to have to endure the same challenges by being isolated at their downtown hotel in Milwaukee until at least Wednesday, unable to even leave their hotel room unless getting tested.

“I hope people see what happened to us and use that as a warning,’’ Marlins CEO Derek Jeter said. “If you’re not following the protocols 100% …you can’t let your guard down. We’re battling something that is invisible.

“If there’s any group that understands the seriousness of what we’re dealing with, it’s our group, because we’ve seen what happened through our clubhouse. We talked to our guys about being disciplined on the road. It’s no secret to be successful through this, you have to be disciplined.’’

Jeter acknowledged that two of their players violated the safety and health protocols but said the investigations by MLB and the Marlins showed that players were not reckless in their behavior during their two-game exhibition series in Atlanta, triggering an outbreak during their opening three-game series in Philadelphia.

“Our guys were not running all around town after our game in Atlanta,’’ Jeter said. “We did have a couple individuals leave the hotel. We had guys leave to get coffee, get clothes. No salacious activity. No hanging out at bars. No clubs. …

“There is no way to identify how this got into our clubhouse. [But] some of our traveling party had a false sense of security. This is a wakeup call.’’

The Cardinals also strongly defended themselves, denying reports that at least one Cardinals player visited a casino, causing the outbreak.

“I have no factual reason to believe that is true,’’ Mozeliak said, “and I have not seen any proof of that. If they were at a casino, though, that would be disappointing.’’

The infection began in St. Louis, Mozeliak said, and not in Milwaukee where they were scheduled to play a three-game series against the Brewers. They are now scheduled to resume play Friday in St. Louis against the Chicago Cubs.

Yet, there was no reason to play the blame game, Mozeliak said, on how a player or staff member contracted the disease.

“I think we have a sense of how this may have begun,’’ Mozeliak said, “but it’s not something I can discuss publicly. I don’t want anybody to just get destroyed over, “You were the person.’ But contact tracing is essential if you’re trying to understand how to contain. …

“I don’t know how we could have done anything different except not put someone who was infected on our plane.’’

Really, it makes no difference how the outbreaks began, devastating two clubs. Neither is making excuses. Neither team believes the season should be canceled. They just hope everyone pays attention how easily one infection can spread.

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“It’s not like, “Oh, we got caught,’ and 28 others haven’t,’’ Mozeliak said. “In fairness, you’re in a pandemic. It’s almost impossible to say we can build a dome around ourselves, and move from city to city, and from our home to the ballpark.’’

Simply, this was the cost of playing baseball in 2020, and the Cardinals and Marlins sure are paying the price.

“We understand there was going to be risk,’’ Mozeliak said, “but I think it’s just the inherent risk of playing under a pandemic. Would it feel better if someone was at a strip joint? …You don’t go to a strip joint, so you won’t bring it into your house. The point is anything can happen, and we tried to put things in place that would prevent this from happening, but it just shows you how challenging that is.’’

Now, the Cardinals and Marlins will have to find some way to overcome their missing personnel for an indefinite time period, and hope by the time they’re at full strength, there still is a baseball season.

“We’re going to do everything we can to try to play moving forward,’’ Mozeliak said. “The morale up here is good, all things considered. I do think people are tired of sitting in their room, but you’ve got to put safety first.’’

Certainly, if Major League Baseball had a do-over, it never would have allowed the Marlins and Phillies to play July 26 knowing the Marlins were infected. It wound up costing the Marlins and the Phillies a week’s worth of games. While the Marlins said they wanted to play the final game of that series, Jeter said it was ultimately MLB’s call.

“The league has their medical experts,’’ Jeter said, “they have their protocols in place. Am I mad at the league for us playing? I’m not mad at the league.’’

The only difference now is everyone is exercising extreme caution. If there is a rash of positive tests, the game or series will not be played. If there’s an outbreak, an entire week of games could be lost.

Two teams, two outbreaks, and less than two weeks of games have been played.

The Marlins and Cardinals are Exhibits 1 and 1-A what can happen if protocols are not closely followed.

The next COVID-19 outbreak would not only be devastating to an organization, but would threaten the entire 2020 season, and then everyone goes home for the winter.

Follow Nightengale on Twitter @BNightengale.

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