For weeks now, the only teams to have received a positive COVID-19 test were the Cardinals and Marlins. Because of the scale of those outbreaks, it hardly felt like good news that other teams were unaffected, but it has been encouraging when you really think about it.
And, probably unsustainable:
A Reds player has tested positive for COVID-19, sources tell The Athletic. Team defeated Pirates on Friday night, scheduled to host them again at 6:10 p.m. ET on Saturday. Status of that game not yet known.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 15, 2020
There was a time when this kind of one-off positive test was highly anticipated, and thought to be pretty easy to weather: a team would simply remove that player, put him on the IL, replace him on the roster, and carry on.
Except what we saw with the Marlins and Cardinals was that there wasn’t a one-off positive test – one meant many. And the nature of the delayed onset of this virus, combined with every-other-day testing means that it’s simply not that hard for multiple players to have been exposed. So putting a guy on the IL and calling someone else up doesn’t exactly solve your problem, and could actually create even more risk. It was always a flaw in the plans for this season, and one that I think the league hoped just … wouldn’t happen?
For now, the Reds likely started rapid testing everyone on the team and the staff, as well as contact tracing to determine how the player may have gotten the virus and to whom he may have passed it (or to whom the original source may have passed it). Pending those tests and that investigation it still seems highly unlikely that today’s game will happen:
Saturday’s game between the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates is likely to be postponed after a Reds player tested positive for COVID-19, sources tell ESPN.
The fallout is unclear — will be for days. But after the Marlins and Cardinals outbreaks, avoiding another is vital.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 15, 2020
If we’ve learned anything from the earlier cases, being overly aggressive is actually appropriately aggressive.
The Reds previously have done very well, including players who self-quarantined for days after feeling some symptoms that turned out not to be COVID-19. They also had a positive test in the first days of the season, Matt Davidson, but it wasn’t a league-administered test, and he also quickly started testing negative in the league tests. It’s kinda not clear what actually happened there.
UPDATE: Today’s game has indeed been postponed:
Sunday’s game between the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates is exceedingly likely to be postponed, sources tell ESPN. The teams could potentially play a doubleheader on Monday, when both have an off-day. They have two more series in which they can make up lost games, too.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 15, 2020