The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies were supposed to play last week, but COVID-19 had other ideas.
Finally, there is a bit more clarity when it comes to when the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies are going to play each other. After playing the Miami Marlins last weekend, who had an outbreak of coronavirus in the clubhouse, the Phillies were shut down all week.
Not announced yet, but Phillies aren’t going to Miami next Tuesday and are instead going to NY to play the Yankees for 2 then returning to Philly for 2, also vs. Yankees. Miami schedule remains undetermined.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 31, 2020
The Yankees expected to face the Phillies next week, but it’s impossible to know what to expect with the fluidity of the situation. Although the Phillies had positive cases on the coaching staff, the good news is that no players tested positive for COVID-19.
There’s still no word on whether or not the Yankees and Phillies will play any doubleheaders. If so, they’ll look more like Little League games than Major League Baseball. To accommodate some of the scheduling mishaps that are resulting from the various COVID-19 outbreaks around the league, MLB is moving to seven-inning doubleheaders.
We’ve already seen what a bad outbreak can do to throw things out of whack. The Yankees and Baltimore Orioles were never in contact with the Marlins, but they are both playing catch-up in the standings regardless.
We’re still waiting to see what happens in the Central after the St. Louis Cardinals registered two positive coronavirus cases. Commissioner Rob Manfred is close to shutting the entire season down and one more bad outbreak.
It took so long to figure out a way to play the 2020 MLB season, but it feels like we are one more outbreak away from shutting it down completely. At that point, the only hope for any more baseball in 2020 would be some type of league-wide tournament in a controlled environment—a bubble.
And with everything going on, having CC Sabathia throw out the first pitch at the home opener on Thursday seems like a questionable decision, at best.
I love CC as much as the next guy but doing these two things on the same day doesn’t seem like the smartest idea… pic.twitter.com/ADeRc1SawC
— Danny Small (@dwsmall8) July 31, 2020
