Rob Manfred shares circumstances under which he would pause a team’s season

MLB is not planning to cancel its season despite a coronavirus outbreak among the Miami Marlins. So far, the league postponed games between the Marlins and Orioles, and between the Phillies (the team that previously faced Miami) and Yankees. They’re planning to try working through the matter rather than just shut everything down completely.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has shared the circumstances under which he would decide to pause a team’s season, though.

“A team losing a number of players that rendered it completely non-competitive,” would be the circumstance, Manfred said on Monday.

The commissioner said he believes the league can still keep players safe and says they remain optimistic.

“We expected we were going to have positives at some point in time. I remain optimistic that the protocols are strong enough that it will allow us to play even through an outbreak like this and complete our season,” Manfred said.

Tuesday’s Marlins-Orioles game has also been postponed. The league is awaiting the results of coronavirus testing for the Marlins and Phillies to determine what their next step will be. They are expecting to have test results later on Monday night and to give an update on the situation on Tuesday.

For now, the plan is for the Marlins and Orioles to play in Baltimore on Wednesday. The 13 members of the Marlins who tested positive for the coronavirus are quarantining in Philadelphia, where they were for a 3-game series that ended on Sunday. The league has no plans to cancel the season.