The New York Times - USA (2020-07-28)

B6 TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2020 SCORES ANALYSIS COMMENTARY

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PHILADELPHIA — The news
arrived on Monday morning via a
cellphone application used for in-
ternal communication: The game
scheduled hours later between
the Philadelphia Phillies and the
Yankees is off, nobody can go to
Citizens Bank Park, and stand by
for further updates.
Concerned Yankees players
knew exactly why. The Phillies
had just completed a three-game
series at home against the Miami
Marlins, which had 14 members of
their traveling party test positive
for the coronavirus.
While Phillies players and em-
ployees were tested on Monday
and the stadium was disinfected,
the Yankees were instructed to se-
quester in their hotel in Philadel-
phia as they awaited confirmation
that they would play on Tuesday
as planned. After breakfast, Yan-
kees players met around noon to
discuss the situation and reiterate
the fragility of the season and the
need to strictly follow health and
safety protocols. Some plotted
ways to work out or play catch in-
side the hotel.
This is the downtime of Major
League Baseball amid a pan-
demic, as its teams — with grow-
ing worry from baseball officials
and health experts — attempt to
play a 60-game season in 30 stadi-
ums across the country.
“You try to do your absolute
best on an individual level to fol-
low the rules to a T,” Yankees re-
liever Adam Ottavino said on
Monday. “But it’s just a skating-
on-thin-ice situation, and I think it
will be no matter what.”
Although there were relatively
few cases as each team, except To-
ronto, had three weeks of pre-
season workouts at their home
stadiums, this was always going
to be a hard part for M.L.B.: teams
traveling for games and entering
hot spots like Florida, Georgia and
Texas. The Marlins played two ex-
hibition games in Atlanta before
their three-game set in Philadel-
phia.
It is unclear when and how the
Marlins were infected, given the
virus’s incubation period of at
least a few days. But the episode
further drove home the message
to the Yankees that reducing their
exposure to the virus requires a
large dose of individual commit-
ment on the circumstances play-
ers can control.

“We’ve all got a responsibility to

stay as safe as possible during

these times,” Yankees outfielder

Brett Gardner said last week,

“and what one or two of us do can

affect the whole team or the whole

league.”

To help prevent infections

among players, coaches and key

staff members, the league — with

input from the players’ union —

instituted a 113-page operations

manual for the season which in-

cludes details on how teams

should behave while traveling.

Among the many regulations: no

eating at public restaurants, a

preference for private airports, an

empty seat next to each person on

the team bus, and a private en-

trance, check-in area and floors at

each hotel.

Members of a team’s traveling

party should “avoid leaving” the

hotel for “non-essential pur-

poses,” according to the M.L.B.

manual. As far as visitors at the

hotel, the manual said that apart

from “immediate family,” mem-

bers of a team’s traveling party

are discouraged from socializing

with other family and friends

while on the road. If they choose to

do so, they “must adhere to strict

physical distancing protocols, and

wear proper face coverings and

gloves,” the manual continued.

Instead of arriving at the sta-

dium many hours before a road

game like usual, the Yankees (2-1)

are doing so much later now and

readying for a game at the hotel.

Players said the Yankees pro-

vided rooms at their hotels in

Washington and in Philadelphia

where they could pore over ad-

vance scouting reports, and get a

massage or treatment — after

making an appointment with their

training staff — before arriving at

the stadium. And, as allowed by

M.L.B.’s rules, they had exclusive

use of the hotel gym to work out.

“Being able to prepare and get-

ting treatment at the hotel, it’s ac-

tually been great,” Yankees relief

pitcher Zack Britton said over the

weekend.

Instead of spending a day off

doing whatever they wanted, like

sightseeing or grabbing a meal or

drinks, Yankees players said that

Gerrit Cole, the team’s new $324

million pitcher, and Gardner, the

longest tenured Yankee, orga-

nized a steak dinner inside a ban-

quet hall of the team’s hotel during

their day off in Washington on Fri-

day. Players said they sat at a dis-

tance and watched other baseball

games on television.

“I’m not sure how it’s going to

look going forward, but the big-

gest thing we’re doing is we’re try-

ing to stay in the hotel and be safe

and be healthy,” Britton said.

Before the Yankees departed on

their first road trip this season,

first baseman Luke Voit said they

were all given a travel kit that in-

cluded materials they could use to

disinfect their hotel rooms.

Yankees starter J. A. Happ, who

was scheduled to start on Monday

against the Phillies, said on Sun-

day that the team was already fall-

ing into a pattern of good habits,

including keeping their distance

and wearing masks away from the

field.

But this is an imperfect science.

So much has to go right. Some

players still high five and spit,

which are banned this season.

Teams are charged with policing

themselves. Players have to

worry not only about their own be-

havior but that of the loved ones

around them. In the N.B.A., a few

players have already been asked

to seclude themselves after break-

ing the rules of its so-called bubble

outside Orlando, Fla.

The Yankees have already had

one positive case emerge since

the team reunited in early July:

the All-Star closer Aroldis Chap-

man. Yankees General Manager

Brian Cashman said recently that

15 people who were around Chap-

man underwent daily testing for a

week but no other positive cases

emerged. Ottavino said that

proved why the protocols beyond

the testing are so important.

“But now this shows you how

easy it is to spread,” he said, refer-

ring to the Marlins’ outbreak.

“The real issue is it’s just so hard

to know.”

Ottavino said the results of the

Phillies’ testing will be telling.

Two of their players — catcher

J. T. Realmuto and first baseman

Rhys Hoskins — were in the clos-

est contact with the Marlins on the

field given their positions. The

Yankees were also tested on Mon-

day, but at their hotel as part of

their regularly scheduled every-

other-day testing.

Until the Phillies’ results arrive

and the Yankees learn what they

will be doing on Tuesday, they

planned to stay indoors and wait.

M.L.B. RULES FOR TRAVELING

No eating at public restaurants.

Private airports when possible.

An empty seat next to each person on the team bus.

A private entrance, check-in area and floors at the hotel.

Avoid leaving the hotel for ‘non-essential’ purposes.

Socializing with friends and non-immediate family is discouraged.

The bullpen of the Yankees on Thursday in Washington. The team is in Philadelphia, where the Marlins had just played.

ROB CARR/GETTY IMAGES

For the Yankees, a Series Begins

In Hotel Rooms, Not a Stadium

Yankees Manager Aaron Boone. Reliever Adam Ottavino

said players tried their best “to follow the rules to a T.”

ALEX BRANDON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

@BALTIMORE

Mon. Aug. 3, 7:35 p.m.

Tue. Aug. 4, 7:35 p.m.

Wed. Aug. 5, 7:35 p.m.

@PHILADELPHIA

Mon. July 27, postponed

Tue. July 28, 6:05 p.m.

TIMES ARE EASTERN

VS. BOSTON

Fri. July 31, 7:05 p.m.

Sat. Aug. 1, 7:07 p.m.

Sun. Aug. 2, 7:08 p.m..

VS. PHILADELPHIA

Wed. July 29, 7:05 p.m.

Thu. July 30, 7:05 p.m.

By JAMES WAGNER

An outbreak on the Marlins

brings a postponement and

drives home safety measures.