Thirteen members of the Miami Marlins have tested positive for COVID-19, forcing them to cancel Monday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles, ESPN and The Athletic reported.
The Washington Nationals are scheduled to play a series at Miami this Friday through Sunday. That series — and possibly more — are now in doubt.
The Marlins remain in Philadelphia, where they just finished their season-opening series against the Phillies, and are undergoing further testing there, ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan tweeted.
The outbreak started with just four players, including starting pitcher Jose Urena. But seven more players and two coaches reportedly also had tests come back positive in recent days.
Many Major League Baseball teams have had to handle isolated cases of the coronavirus in recent days and weeks as the league got a 60-game season off the ground. Nationals star outfielder Juan Soto had a test come back positive the morning of opening night; Soto sat out for all three games of this weekend’s series against the New York Yankees.
But the Marlins’ 13 positive cases marks the biggest outbreak among an American professional sports team so far. Major League Soccer had two teams, FC Dallas and Nashville SC, withdraw from its “MLS is Back Tournament” earlier this month for outbreaks of 11 and nine positive cases, respectively.
Eight more players and two coaches with the Miami Marlins have tested positive for COVID-19, as an outbreak has spread throughout their clubhouse and brought the total of cases in recent days to at least 14, sources familiar with the situation tell me and @JesseRogersESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 27, 2020
Source: Marlins’ game tonight against Orioles in Miami has been cancelled. Team still in Philadelphia.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 27, 2020
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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