Two major league baseball games scheduled for Monday night were postponed after more than a dozen Miami Marlins players and staff members tested positive for the coronavirus in an outbreak that stranded the team in Philadelphia. The Marlins’ home opener against Baltimore was called off, as was the New York Yankees’ game at Philadelphia. The Yankees would have been in the same clubhouse the Marlins used last weekend.
The Marlins’ outbreak raised new doubts about MLB’s ability to finish a 60-game season barely underway amid a pandemic. As the MLB runs into complications, the NBA has rolled out what game operations in a bubble will look like, with the first several of 33 scrimmages being played last week. The scrimmages — exhibitions, some call them — will continue through July 28, two days before the restart of the regular season in the form of seeding games that will determine who has what seed for the playoffs. Although some players have left the Orlando bubble for personal matters or choices that could put others at risk, the bubble experiment is proving successful so far.
Today on AirTalk, we check in on the latest with major league sports. Do you have thoughts or questions? Call 866-893-5722.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Jared Diamond, national baseball writer for the Wall Street Journal; author of "Swing Kings: The Inside Story of Baseball's Home Run Revolution” (William Morrow, March 2020); he tweets @jareddiamond
Tania Ganguli, reporter for the Los Angeles Times covering the Lakers, she’s reporting from inside the NBA bubble in Orlando; she tweets @taniaganguli