Sources: MLB finalizing return-to-play proposal (Passan)

[jpx7]

One guy tests positive and the season is over. Only half-kidding.

I mean, besides the player-compensation issue, that is the other massive hurdle—and one that I think is ultimately more substantial to actual playing the season (as opposed to just setting a date for starting it).

If a player tests positive, there's a non-trivial chance it'll end up being more than one player by the time they've ascertained there's a positive case—so what happens if a sixth of the proposed thirty-man active roster is suddenly medically ineligible? Or if two teams playing a three-game series suddenly each lose half their players to medical ineligibility? And, even if cases are caught at the single-player level, how many individual cases can a roster withstand? What if a player tests negative, but a household member comes up positive? Is that player medically ineligible anyways, as a precaution?

Lots of questions—and of course none of this even mentions how competitively fraught everything could get. For instance, say the Braves were to lose Acuña, Albies, and Swanson for a 14–21-day stretch in precautionary quarantine, and that happens to coincide with a few series against top division rivals. Or say the Twins lose their whole bullpen for 14–21 days right before the postseason?

Going to be strange baseball, if there's a season at all, for a hell of a host of reasons.

[Skeeter31]

I mean, besides the player-compensation issue, that is the other massive hurdle—and one that I think is ultimately more substantial to actual playing the season (as opposed to just setting a date for starting it).

If a player tests positive, there's a non-trivial chance it'll end up being more than one player by the time they've ascertained there's a positive case—so what happens if a sixth of the proposed thirty-man active roster is suddenly medically ineligible? Or if two teams playing a three-game series suddenly each lose half their players to medical ineligibility? And, even if cases are caught at the single-player level, how many individual cases can a roster withstand? What if a player tests negative, but a household member comes up positive? Is that player medically ineligible anyways, as a precaution?

Lots of questions—and of course none of this even mentions how competitively fraught everything could get. For instance, say the Braves were to lose Acuña, Albies, and Swanson for a 14–21-day stretch in precautionary quarantine, and that happens to coincide with a few series against top division rivals. Or say the Twins lose their whole bullpen for 14–21 days right before the postseason?

Going to be strange baseball, if there's a season at all, for a hell of a host of reasons.

This is what I brought up in the other restart the season topic (bringing me back to why are there 2 topics for the same issue), but I digress. When a player catches the virus, there will be a large portion of that team and other teams said player has played against that will need to be held out for precaution. How does MLB handle this? How can a team be penalized if their players catch it? And what will it take for the season to be called off again? Will it need to be a Bryce Harper or Mike Trout catching the virus, or if someone like Charlie Culberson or Johan Camargo catch it would it get the same reaction from MLB?