Column: Virus extends its winning streak in baseball

For a day or two, it seemed like it might actually work. Baseball was back and, even if some of the familiar sights of summer were missing, there were actual players with bats and balls along with the cute cardboard cutouts of babies and dogs in the stands.

But there’s nothing cute about the coronavirus. And nothing good about baseball’s botched response to the first crisis of its strangest season ever.

The Marlins are done, or at least they should be. There’s no way a team ravaged by the virus can even try to carry on, even if you accept the idea that 29 other teams should continue to chase a World Series title that means less with every positive test.

Baseball should be done, too. If there’s anything the outbreak showed, it's that MLB’s plan to play during the COVID-19 pandemic was not only seriously flawed but lacking in execution. The fact the Marlins still played in Philadelphia on Sunday with positive tests already coming back is an indictment of both the system baseball put in place and the way it has been executed.

Yes, the league was able to begin play with the pandemic raging and no bubble in place. That was probably the easy part because there was never any way it was going to finish.

But baseball is in too deep now to quit. Giving up on the season is apparently not an option for Commissioner Rob Manfred and owners, at least until the optics of a coach or player on a ventilator make it impossible to continue to plow blindly forward.

A third of the Marlins testing positive for the virus isn’t just concerning. It’s absolutely frightening.

“I’m going to be honest with you, I’m scared,” said Nationals manager Dave Martinez, who has a heart condition and whose team is scheduled to travel to Miami and play the Marlins on Friday.

A lot of...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Column-Virus-extends-its-winning-streak-in-15438001.php