The Miami Marlins have had 17 members of their organization test positive for COVID-19 and had people wondering if the MLB season was in jeopardy after just a few games being played. The MLB announced on Tuesday that all of the Marlins’ games through Sunday would be postponed and that they will be reshuffling the schedules for the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals.
The Yankees were supposed to play the Phillies in Philadelphia on Monday and Tuesday night, but both games were postponed due to the Phillies having played their opening series against the Marlins in Philadelphia over the weekend. MLB came to the conclusion to postpone the games in Philadelphia considering the Yankees would have to be in the same away clubhouse the Marlins were just in. Wednesday night was supposed to be the Yankees’ home opener against the Phillies, but that game was also postponed even after the Phillies had zero positive tests Tuesday morning.
The cancellation of Miami’s games through Sunday meant that the Baltimore Orioles were now available to play a two-game series in Baltimore starting on Wednesday. This then gave the chance for the Yankees to vote on whether to resume their season in Baltimore and the vote was unanimous to go on and play in Baltimore.
“Coming into it, we understood that there was going to be positive tests and there could be a team that had multiple positive tests, a significant amount like the Marlins, so I think everyone understood that this was a possibility. And the biggest thing is for us to continue,” the Yankees’ team union representative Zack Britton said Tuesday on a video conference call in Philadelphia.
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will take the mound in Camden Yards Wednesday night. Cole is coming off his first Yankee win on Opening Night against the Nationals in which he pitched five innings and only gave up one run in a rain-shortened game. J.A. Happ will make his season debut for the Yankees in their second game of the series against the Orioles on Thursday night.
The Yankees will wait until Friday night to play their home opener against their rivals the Boston Red Sox. Yankees manager Aaron Boone has yet to announce who will start the home opener, but has said that Masahiro Tanaka and Jordan Montgomery will start two of the three games against Boston.
Photo: (Rob Carr-Getty Images)
