As the NFL monitors the experiences of other sports in a pandemic, when it comes to baseball the NFL may want to look away.
The Miami Marlins have canceled tonight’s home opener against the Orioles, because the Marlins remain in Philadelphia while dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak. (Philadelphia presumably would like them to leave, now.)
Via Jeff Passan of ESPN.com, eight more players and two staff members have tested positive, pushing the total number of Marlins cases to 14.
Given that the Marlins just completed a series against the Phillies, it now becomes important to monitor Philadelphia players and staff.
This is obviously troubling news for the NFL. Although the NFL’s individual teams will be erecting de facto bubbles until it’s time to start the regular season (just like baseball did), the sheer number of players and coaches and the nature of football makes it foolish to think there won’t be issues.
Hopefully, there won’t be. Hopefully, the Marlins will determine how their outbreak happened, and the NFL learn from it.
For now, though, it would be foolish to say that the NFL shouldn’t be very concerned about what’s happening to the Marlins.