All Marlins Games Through Sunday Postponed Amid COVID-19 Outbreak

The Marlins' games have been postponed through Sunday amid the team's COVID-19 outbreak that has rocked several MLB teams' schedules.

All Marlins games through Sunday have been postponed amid the team's COVID-19 outbreak that has rocked several MLB teams' schedules.

"Given the current circumstances, MLB believes that it is most prudent to allow the Marlins time to focus on providing care for their players and planning their Baseball Operations for a resumption early next week," MLB announced in a statement.

"The health and safety protocols were designed with a challenging circumstance like the one facing the Marlins in mind. The response outlined in the joint MLB-MLBPA Operations Manual was triggered immediately upon learning of the cluster of positive cases, including contract tracing and the quarantining and testing of all identified close contacts. The Marlins' personnel who tested positive remain in isolation and are receiving care."

Following their weekend series against the Phillies, over a dozen Marlins players and staff members tested positive for the virus by Monday. Another four players reportedly tested positive on Tuesday. Miami postponed its home opener against the Orioles on Monday night and remains quarantined in Philadelphia following the outbreak. 

The Marlins were scheduled to play the Orioles in a home-and-home series this week before hosting the Nationals for a three-game series over the weekend. 

As part of MLB's scheduling changes, the remainder of the Phillies and Yankees' home-and-home series this week has also been postponed "out of an abundance of caution." Additional rescheduling during the week of Aug. 3 will be announced later this week. The Yankees will play the Orioles in Baltimore on Wednesday and Thursday, instead.

Philadelphia will be off until it returns to Citizens Bank Park on Friday to face the Blue Jays. However, the Phillies will be considered the visiting team due to Toronto's inability to play in Canada. The Canadian government barred the Blue Jays from playing at Rogers Centre because it expressed concerns over MLB's plan to play. Plenty of questions have been raised over the league's safety protocols since its extremely detailed Operations Manual doesn't clearly spell out how to handle an outbreak.

The Phillies were tested for the coronavirus following their weekend series against the Marlins. According to MLB Network's Jon Heyman, in tests that came back Tuesday, only one Phillies staff member tested positive and all players tested negative. Philadelphia players will be in isolation until Friday but not technically quarantined.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported Tuesday night that players with the Nationals, Phillies and Yankees will be paid for any games they do not play due to the Marlins’ outbreak.

Despite Miami's stream of positive tests, commissioner Rob Manfred said Monday night that he has faith in baseball's protocols. On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo expressed his doubts about the situation and invited MLB teams to play in New York's stadiums amid the outbreak.

"New York State could host any major league baseball game that any team wants to play," Cuomo said. "New York state has one of the lowest infection rates in the U.S. New York state has a full Department of Health protocol system in place. I offer to the MLB, if you are having problems playing in other states, come play here. We will set up a health protocol."