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The NBA set up a "Bubble" in Orlando to resume their 2019-20 season. Players were tested when they arrived, and then were housed and fed in the Disney resorts and not allowed to leave the controlled environment without going through another isolation period upon returning. And so far, it is working. They tested 343 players in the last week, and there were zero positive results. It marked the 3rd straight week since the Bubble started that they have not had a single positive result.
The NHL is doing something similar, but with slightly less strict regulations on the players, and it is working OK so far, too.
But Major League Baseball has not instituted similar "bubble". They did put a bunch of health and safety protocols into place, shorten the season, re-do the schedule to reduce travel, and have done extensive testing of players and team personnel. But there is less oversight of the protocols, and there have been some concerning results. Earlier, the Miami Marlins had over 20 people test positive, nearly all of them players. They re-tooled their roster and seem to have weathered the storm.
However, now the St. Louis Cardinals are having a similar outbreak of positive tests that is threatening their season, and possibly more. It started with a couple players testing positive, but has now grown to at least 15 positive tests. The Cardinals have had to postpone their last 12 games, including this weekend's series with the Cubs, and the postponements will continue into this coming week's series with the Pirates. They will not be cleared to resume playing until they have zero new positive tests for 5 days in a row. Tough luck for Cardinals fans. But with the shortened season and fewer off-days, it is getting to the point where it might not be possible for the Cards to make up all the postponed games. And if there are other teams that start having similar problems, it could threaten the entire MLB season.
And as fans have already seen, most college conferences have made changes to their upcoming fall sports seasons. So it is a concern to basketball fans whether these problems might continue into the winter sports seasons, and how will the NCAA and the various schools and conferences deal with it? The college basketball season starts in less than 3 months, and practices begin in less than 2 months.
The NHL is doing something similar, but with slightly less strict regulations on the players, and it is working OK so far, too.
But Major League Baseball has not instituted similar "bubble". They did put a bunch of health and safety protocols into place, shorten the season, re-do the schedule to reduce travel, and have done extensive testing of players and team personnel. But there is less oversight of the protocols, and there have been some concerning results. Earlier, the Miami Marlins had over 20 people test positive, nearly all of them players. They re-tooled their roster and seem to have weathered the storm.
However, now the St. Louis Cardinals are having a similar outbreak of positive tests that is threatening their season, and possibly more. It started with a couple players testing positive, but has now grown to at least 15 positive tests. The Cardinals have had to postpone their last 12 games, including this weekend's series with the Cubs, and the postponements will continue into this coming week's series with the Pirates. They will not be cleared to resume playing until they have zero new positive tests for 5 days in a row. Tough luck for Cardinals fans. But with the shortened season and fewer off-days, it is getting to the point where it might not be possible for the Cards to make up all the postponed games. And if there are other teams that start having similar problems, it could threaten the entire MLB season.
And as fans have already seen, most college conferences have made changes to their upcoming fall sports seasons. So it is a concern to basketball fans whether these problems might continue into the winter sports seasons, and how will the NCAA and the various schools and conferences deal with it? The college basketball season starts in less than 3 months, and practices begin in less than 2 months.
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