Less than two weeks into the MLB season, and it’s safe to say that things have been eventful. Despite some rough moments with the league trying to play during a pandemic, the games continue. Let’s get caught up on everything you need to know.
Fishing Season
The Miami Marlins are officially back in action. They haven’t played a game since July 26 because of a massive outbreak of COVID-19 within their clubhouse that sent more than a dozen players to the COVID IL.
However, Miami will return to action on Tuesday night against the Orioles with over half their roster different from the team’s last game. The Marlins have a lot of games to make up, although their outbreak hasn’t ended their season or the entire MLB season, which is a positive.
Cardinal Rule
While the Marlins are returning to action, the Cardinals are the latest team to be shut down thanks to seven players and six staff members testing positive for COVID-19 over the past few days. This week’s series against the Tigers has been postponed, keeping the team quarantined at a Milwaukee hotel. Of the 13 people in the organization to test positive, eight are experiencing mild symptoms of the virus.
Clean Bill of Health
The Phillies were finally able to return to the field last night after four straight days of all negative tests within the organization. The club had been idle since July 26 because they were hosting the Marlins, who experienced an outbreak. The good news for MLB is that Philadelphia players weren’t infected after playing three games against the Marlins, who had an abundance of cases.
That suggests that the risk of transmitting the virus on the field during games is low. The downside for the Phillies is they lost to the Yankees 6-3 in their return to action.
Tough Break
The Atlanta Braves suffered a monumental loss on Monday night when young ace Mike Soroka suffered a torn Achilles that will end his 2020 season. Soroka suffered the injury while trying to get off the mound to cover first base.
Braves manager Brian Snitker described the injury as a “freak thing” while members of the opposing Mets expressed sympathy and said the injury was hard to watch. Soroka finished 6th in the Cy Young voting and second in Rookie of the Year voting last year and suffered the season-ending injury one day before his 23rd birthday.
Something’s Up
Shohei Ohtani is another high-profile pitcher who has been sidelined by an injury. Ohtani has been diagnosed with a strain of the flexor-pronator mass near his elbow. He will be shut down for at least a month while he’s considered “day-to-day” to serve as the Angels DH. Ohtani is returning from Tommy John surgery in 2018 but has been a disaster in his first two outings of the season.
He failed to record an out in his season debut and then walked five in 1.2 innings on Sunday. The Angels hope to get his bat back in the lineup soon, although it’s questionable if he’ll pitch again in 2020.
