The Miami Marlins’ outbreak directly impacted Andrew McCutchen and his team, and now the former National League MVP is airing out his frustration.
In an interview Monday with Jayson Stark of The Athletic, the Philadelphia Phillies outfielder McCutchen said that he was angry with the Marlins for not following proper health and safety protocols.
“I was upset at everything that’s transpired through that — whoever decided to step out or not necessarily follow the health and safety protocol,” he said. “That upset me. What made me angry was that we, as the Phillies — we were the ones that ended up having to pay for that. … We followed all of the health and safety protocols. We knew that was important. We understood that’s what we needed to do to be able to play this game. And we did everything right. And we paid for it.
“And so for me, that was upsetting,” McCutchen added. “I’m sitting here at home, watching 28 to 27 to 26 other teams play, and we’re sitting at home — all [testing] negative by the way. And we have to watch this happen while we did nothing wrong. So for me, that was very upsetting. It was very upsetting that we did everything right, and we were still the ones paying for it.”
Miami’s outbreak, which affected at least 20 members of their traveling party, resulted in the postponement of a week’s worth of their games and counting. It also forced the Phillies, who played them the weekend that the outbreak was discovered, out of action as well. Philadelphia’s game against the New York Yankees on Monday was their first time playing ever since.
There were some rumors that Marlins players prompted the outbreak by leaving their hotel to party, but team president Derek Jeter has denied that. Still, it is obvious that the Marlins are not too popular leaguewide right now, and especially not with those who were negatively affected by their actions like McCutchen and the Phillies were.
