MLB suffered its first COVID-19 crisis less than one week into the regular season. Eighteen Marlins players and four Cardinals personnel have tested positive since Opening Day, forcing 17 games to be postponed. Six teams -- 20 percent of the league -- didn't play this weekend due to COVID-19 concerns: Blue Jays, Brewers, Cardinals, Marlins, Nationals, Phillies.
Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB believe they can manage the outbreak, and those six clubs are expected to resume play either Monday or Tuesday. MLB intends to make up as many games as possible -- doubleheaders will feature two-seven inning games this year -- and more schedule revisions will undoubtedly be necessary to deal with future positive tests.
Despite MLB's intentions to make up as many games as possible, it may not be feasible, and it is possible (I'd argue likely) teams will play an uneven number of games this season. If that happens, Manfred said the league will be flexible enough to set the standings and finalize a postseason field. From the Associated Press:
"This is kind of a day-to-day thing right now," Manfred said. "You've just got to get up in the morning and figure out a way to keep going through another day to stay safe for people."
There's a chance not all teams will be able to get in 60 regular-season games.
"We've got to be flexible on that," Manfred said. "Look, this is one of the reasons that we revisited the issue off the expanded playoffs. If it turns out that some guys play 60, some guys play 58, they have this new thing called winning percentage. We can sort that out."
This "new thing called winning percentage" has actually been around since the dawn of time, because math, and there is precedent for MLB using it to determine the final standings. Teams played an uneven number of games around the 1981 strike -- some played as many as 111 games and others played as few as 103 -- so winning percentage was used to determine the final standings.
The better question is whether MLB will set a minimum number of games for postseason qualifiers. If the Marlins continue to be ravished by the pandemic and finish, say, 21-14 (.600), will that be enough to qualify for the postseason over teams that play 55-60 games? That hardly seems fair. I guess MLB will cross that bridge when the league comes to it.
Manfred said of the season on Saturday "there is no reason to quit now," though he cautioned the players must do a better job following protocols to limit exposure and avoiding having the season canceled. He reiterated those comments to the Associated Press.
"I think that if everybody does what they are supposed to do, we can continue to play, have a credible season and get through the postseason," Manfred said.
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August 03, 2020 at 02:45AM
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Rob Manfred explains why he thinks MLB can have 'credible' season with teams playing unequal amount of games - CBS Sports
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