Column: Rolling the dice against a virus that usually wins

There’s plenty of activity outside ballparks on both sides of the country, with people lining up by the hundreds in nervous anticipation of what the next few days might bring.

There’s some activity inside, too, but for how long nobody knows.

Baseball is struggling mightily to get going, as each day brings more turmoil to a summer camp unlike any players have ever experienced. Some are testing positive, others are dropping out and everyone is increasingly anxious about what the next day — and the next test — might bring.

Even as the MLB’s 60-game schedule was officially unveiled, the chances of the abbreviated season actually beginning — much less finishing — remain so random that no self-respecting Las Vegas bookie would even entertain taking a bet on it.

That likely didn’t matter that much to those in their cars outside parks like Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and Tropicana Field in Florida, which are doing double duty as community test centers. As players tossed balls and stretched not far away, they waited patiently in long lines of cars for the COVID-19 tests that, for some, could literally mean the difference between life and death.

The jarring juxtaposition should give everyone pause. Because while the games haven’t even begun, the virus is already winning.

And so far it’s not even a contest.

That’s clear from reports from almost every MLB camp, where each new positive test is greeted by more wringing of hands and furtive glances toward the clubhouse door. Atlanta star Freddie Freeman is out with the virus, Mike Trout is concerned about making it through a season and David Price decided the risk of coming back was not worth the reward with his new team, the Dodgers.

The season is supposed to start in a little over two weeks, but every day...

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