Aside from the financial aspect of Major League Baseball’s proposal to restart the 2020 Major League Baseball season, one of the lingering questions has been of how a positive test, or positive tests among players and coaches, would be handled.
Even last week, after the league presented the Major League Baseball Players Association with a proposal to resume play, that aspect remained an unknown. Jared Diamond and Louise Radnofsky (Wall Street Journal, link) reported on the player health aspect of things, noting that players would be tested multiple times per week.
According to Diamond and Radnofsky, the league is confident it can gain access to tens of thousands of testing kits without depleting the available supply to essential frontline workers. The specifics of that arrangement, however, are not clear. The duo also wrote that MLB will focus on acquiring primarily 24-hour tests as opposed to rapid-result tests.
Yet, as Steve Adams (MLB Trade Rumors) opined, that comes with its own potential for pitfalls;
An asymptomatic player, coach or umpire who tests positive would still have been in contact with others for a full day before learning of the diagnosis under that scenario. Paired with going a day or multiple days between tests, it’s not hard to envision infections spreading quickly.
— Steve Adams
Diamond and Radnofsky underline a critical point that could undermine the resumption of play: a positive test would not result in a stoppage of play under the current proposal. Rather, any person who tests positive would be subject to an immediate quarantine, while anyone else in contact with them will be closely monitored.
With all that in mind, there’s no question that some players will opt not to play in 2020. While some players have voiced a willingness to play, others, like left-hander Blake Snell, have been outspoken about their concern.
While there is no way to remove the risk of infection entirely, the league released a 67-page safety protocol document with the express goal of dramatically reducing the risk of infection. Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich (The Athletic, paid subscription) summarized those precautions below:
Testing
• Regular testing for all players, managers, coaches, and umpires, plus a limited number of essential staff members who come into close proximity with players.
• MLB will monitor developments in testing and attempt to use the least invasive and fastest methods commercially available without adversely impacting public health needs.
• The vast majority of tests will be run on saliva collections, though oral or nasal swabs might be used at times. Blood samples will be taken less frequently for antibody testing.
• All players must undergo “intake screening” upon arriving at spring training. The screening will take place at multiple locations and at staggered times. It will consist of a temperature check with a contactless thermometer and body fluid and blood samples.
• Individuals who are tested must self-quarantine at his or her spring-training residence until the results of the testing are reported, likely within 24 to 48 hours. Any individual who tests positive is instructed to self-quarantine and gets treated accordingly.
• Asymptomatic individuals will undergo temperature checks and symptom screens at least twice daily. All individuals will undergo testing multiple times per week, with results taking approximately 24 hours to report.
• An individual with a temperature above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, other symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or in close contact with a confirmed case is subject to immediate rapid diagnostic test at a location close to the club facility.
• Each club must maintain a dedicated testing area in its spring training site and MLB ballpark, as well as a dedicated isolation area where an individual who develops symptoms or learns of a positive result can isolate pending relocation to home or medical facility.
• Free diagnostic and antibody testing is available to individuals who live in the same household and health care workers or other first responders in the clubs’ home cities as a public service.
• Each individual will conduct daily home screenings that include a personal temperature check each morning. Clubs will provide thermometers.
• Before entering a club facility, individuals will get temperatures checked and complete a short symptom and exposure questionnaire.
• Any individual who reports COVID-19 symptoms or a temperature above 100 during a home screening will not be permitted to enter a club facility and instead must immediately self-isolate and be directed to a team physician.
• Each club must develop procedures for isolating, transporting, testing and treating individuals who display potential symptoms.
• Clubs must take the following steps to minimize potential transmission:
- Identify all players and other employees who have had close contact and closely monitor them.
- Team physician may determine some or all of those who should get tested.
- Immediate cleaning and disinfecting of all club-controlled areas.
- Reinforce the importance of hygiene.
• Individuals who test positive must self-isolate, with daily communication and remote care from the club medical staff, including follow-up testing.
• The club, in coordination with local health officials, must conduct contact tracing, clean and disinfect locations where the individual was and confidentially notify public health authorities.
• Additional precautions and accommodations will be taken for individuals identified by club as “high-risk.”
Spring training
• Limited to 50 players per club.
• For clubs that conduct spring training at major-league parks, workouts should be staggered throughout the day to avoid overcrowding. When feasible, clubs should consider the use of another facility such as a nearby college or minor-league stadium to conduct workouts or games on a split-squad basis.
• Reporting dates staggered, with camp divided into three phases:
- Individual and small group workouts consisting exclusively of pitchers and catchers. Divided into groups of five players or fewer and assigned different times and areas of the complex.
- Larger groups permitted for workouts and intra-squad games. Still staggered times throughout the day.
- A limited number of games.
• To address heat concerns, spring-training games in Florida and Arizona would begin between 7 and 9 p.m. local time.
• Four-person umpiring crews would be used with the possibility of adding a fifth and using multiple plate umps when temperatures reach certain levels.
Facility protocols
• Facilities will be restricted to limited groups of essential personnel:
- Players and other on-field personnel.
- Other essential personnel who need close proximity to on-field personnel. This group includes clubhouse staff, ownership representatives, front-office employees, public-relations staff, and translators.
- Individuals who perform essential event services but do not require close contact with players and other on-field personnel. This group includes cleaning service providers, broadcast personnel, groundskeepers, transportation providers — up to 150 at any given time.
- Law enforcement, EMTs and ambulance drivers, and government officials.
• Minimum standards will be maintained for cleaning and disinfecting. Processes will be in place for safely distributing meals, dietary supplements, and medicine.
• Communal water and sports drink coolers/jugs are prohibited. Only personal water or individually prepared sports drink bottles or contactless water dispensers with disposable cups or should be used.
• No spitting, using smokeless tobacco and sunflower seeds in restricted areas. Any physical interactions such as high-fives, fist bumps, and hugs must be avoided at club facilities.
• Increased availability of hand-washing and hand-sanitizing stations, preferably with contactless dispensers.
• Players and other on-field personnel should wash or sanitize their hands after each half-inning or the handling of equipment.
• Where possible, clubs will make efforts to reduce the density of individuals, discourage gatherings, and promote physical distancing, and individuals should spend as little time indoors as possible.
• Meetings will take place virtually when possible. If they take place in-person, they should preferably be outdoors with participants sitting apart from each other and wearing face coverings when possible.
• Lockers should be six feet apart. If not possible, clubs should erect temporary clubhouse or locker facilities in unused stadium space, preferably outdoors or in areas with increased ventilation.
• Showering will be discouraged at club facilities.
• The use of indoor batting cages is discouraged when hitting outdoors is an option. Hitters are encouraged to use batting gloves, and batting-practice pitchers are encouraged to wear masks.
• Pitchers will use a personal set of baseballs during bullpen sessions and separate balls to demonstrate pitching grips or mechanics.
• Only necessary players will be in dugouts. Inactive players may sit in auxiliary seating areas, including adjacent in-stadium seating to maximize physical distancing.
• Dugout phones will be disinfected after each use.
• Group dining is discouraged. Buffet and communal food spreads are prohibited. Meals must be distributed in individually packaged containers or bags, in takeout form.
• Uses of saunas, steam rooms, hydrotherapy pools, and cryotherapy chambers are prohibited.
On-field operations
• Changes to rules for the 2020 season are pending.
• Rather than an exchange of lineup cards, lineups will be put into an application.
• When the ball is out of play or in between pitches, fielders are encouraged to retreat several steps away from the baserunner.
• Catchers are permitted to step on the grass toward the mound to give signs if he needs to stand to relay signs to infielders.
• Non-playing personnel must wear masks at all times in dugout.
• Spitting is prohibited.
Travel
• Teams should control their environments as much as possible. Use of public transportation and individual private transportation — rideshare services like Lyft and Uber — is discouraged.
• Whenever possible, teams are to fly into smaller airports. The league’s desire is for airlines to assign fixed airline crews rather than rotate crews in and out.
• While players will not be officially quarantined, members of the traveling party are not to leave the hotel unless they receive advance approval from team personnel. The only people permitted to visit the players’ rooms are immediate family members. Socializing with other family members or friends is discouraged but not entirely prohibited.
• On the road, the players should essentially isolate at hotels, with precautions such as a prohibition on buffet-style meals in place. Luggage will be sent directly to players’ rooms to avoid extra touchpoints, and players will not need to return a key or visit the front desk upon checkout. Meal money should be delivered to players in a form other than cash.
• At teams’ home cities and in spring-training cities, players can stay at their desired locations, as long as they follow best practices such as avoiding public areas.
Testing
• Regular testing for all players, managers, coaches and umpires, plus a limited number of essential staff members who come into close proximity with players.
• MLB will monitor developments in testing and attempt to use the least invasive and fastest methods commercially available without adversely impacting public health needs.
• The vast majority of tests will be run on saliva collections, though oral or nasal swabs might be used at times. Blood samples will be taken less frequently for antibody testing.
• All players must undergo “intake screening” upon arriving at spring training. The screening will take place at multiple locations and at staggered times. It will consist of a temperature check with a contactless thermometer and body fluid and blood samples.
• Individuals who are tested must self-quarantine at his or her spring-training residence until the results of the testing are reported, likely within 24 to 48 hours. Any individual who tests positive is instructed to self-quarantine and gets treated accordingly.
• Asymptomatic individuals will undergo temperature checks and symptom screens at least twice daily. All individuals will undergo testing multiple times per week, with results taking approximately 24 hours to report.
• An individual with a temperature above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, other symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or in close contact with a confirmed case is subject to immediate rapid diagnostic test at a location close to the club facility.
• Each club must maintain a dedicated testing area in its spring training site and MLB ballpark, as well as a dedicated isolation area where an individual who develops symptoms or learns of a positive result can isolate pending relocation to home or medical facility.
• Free diagnostic and antibody testing is available to individuals who live in the same household and health care workers or other first responders in the clubs’ home cities as a public service.
• Each individual will conduct daily home screenings that include a personal temperature check each morning. Clubs will provide thermometers.
• Before entering a club facility, individuals will get temperatures checked and complete a short symptom and exposure questionnaire.
• Any individual who reports COVID-19 symptoms or a temperature above 100 during a home screening will not be permitted to enter a club facility and instead must immediately self-isolate and be directed to a team physician.
• Each club must develop procedures for isolating, transporting, testing and treating individuals who display potential symptoms.
• Clubs must take the following steps to minimize potential transmission:
- Identify all players and other employees who have had close contact and closely monitor them.
- Team physician may determine some or all of those who should get tested.
- Immediate cleaning and disinfecting of all club-controlled areas.
- Reinforce the importance of hygiene.
• Individuals who test positive must self-isolate, with daily communication and remote care from the club medical staff, including follow-up testing.
• The club, in coordination with local health officials, must conduct contact tracing, clean and disinfect locations where the individual was and confidentially notify public health authorities.
• Additional precautions and accommodations will be taken for individuals identified by club as “high-risk.”
Spring training
• Limited to 50 players per club.
• For clubs that conduct spring training at major-league parks, workouts should be staggered throughout the day to avoid overcrowding. When feasible, clubs should consider the use of another facility such as a nearby college or minor-league stadium to conduct workouts or games on a split-squad basis.
• Reporting dates staggered, with camp divided into three phases:
- Individual and small group workouts consisting exclusively of pitchers and catchers. Divided into groups of five players or fewer and assigned different times and areas of the complex.
- Larger groups permitted for workouts and intra-squad games. Still staggered times throughout the day.
- Limited number of games.
• To address heat concerns, spring-training games in Florida and Arizona would begin between 7 and 9 p.m. local time.
• Four-person umpiring crews would be used with the possibility of adding a fifth and using multiple plate umps when temperatures reach certain levels.
Facility protocols
• Facilities will be restricted to limited groups of essential personnel:
- Players and other on-field personnel.
- Other essential personnel who need close proximity to on-field personnel. This group includes clubhouse staff, ownership representatives, front-office employees, public-relations staff and translators.
- Individuals who perform essential event services but do not require close contact with players and other on-field personnel. This group includes cleaning service providers, broadcast personnel, groundskeepers, transportation providers — up to 150 at any given time.
- Law enforcement, EMTs and ambulance drivers, and government officials.
• Minimum standards will be maintained for cleaning and disinfecting. Processes will be in place for safely distributing meals, dietary supplements and medicine.
• Communal water and sports drink coolers/jugs are prohibited. Only personal water or individually prepared sports drink bottles or contactless water dispensers with disposable cups or should be used.
• No spitting, using smokeless tobacco and sunflower seeds in restricted areas. Any physical interactions such as high-fives, fist bumps and hugs must be avoided at club facilities.
• Increased availability of hand-washing and hand-sanitizing stations, preferably with contactless dispensers.
• Players and other on-field personnel should wash or sanitize their hands after each half-inning or the handling of equipment.
• Where possible, clubs will make efforts to reduce the density of individuals, discourage gatherings and promote physical distancing, and individuals should spend as little time indoors as possible.
• Meetings will take place virtually when possible. If they take place in-person, they should preferably be outdoors with participants sitting apart from each other and wearing face coverings when possible.
• Lockers should be six feet apart. If not possible, clubs should erect temporary clubhouse or locker facilities in unused stadium space, preferably outdoors or in areas with increased ventilation.
• Showering will be discouraged at club facilities.
• The use of indoor batting cages is discouraged when hitting outdoors is an option. Hitters are encouraged to use batting gloves, and batting-practice pitchers are encouraged to wear masks.
• Pitchers will use a personal set of baseballs during bullpen sessions and separate balls to demonstrate pitching grips or mechanics.
• Only necessary players will be in dugouts. Inactive players may sit in auxiliary seating areas, including adjacent in-stadium seating to maximize physical distancing.
• Dugout phones will be disinfected after each use.
• Group dining is discouraged. Buffet and communal food spreads are prohibited. Meals must be distributed in individually packaged containers or bags, in takeout form.
• Uses of saunas, steam rooms, hydrotherapy pools and cryotherapy chambers are prohibited.
On-field operations
• Changes to rules for the 2020 season are pending.
• Rather than an exchange of lineup cards, lineups will be put into an application.
• When the ball is out of play or in between pitches, fielders are encouraged to retreat several steps away from the baserunner.
• Catchers are permitted to step on the grass toward the mound to give signs if he needs to stand to relay signs to infielders.
• Non-playing personnel must wear masks at all times in dugout.
• Spitting is prohibited.
Travel
• Teams should control their environments as much as possible. Use of public transportation and individual private transportation — rideshare services like Lyft and Uber — is discouraged.
• Whenever possible, teams are to fly into smaller airports. The league’s desire is for airlines to assign fixed airline crews rather than rotate crews in and out.
• While players will not be officially quarantined, members of the traveling party are not to leave the hotel unless they receive advance approval from team personnel. The only people permitted to visit players’ rooms are immediate family members. Socializing with other family members or friends is discouraged but not entirely prohibited.
• On the road, the players should essentially isolate at hotels, with precautions such as a prohibition on buffet-style meals in place. Luggage will be sent directly to players’ rooms to avoid extra touchpoints, and players will not need to return a key or visit the front desk upon checkout. Meal money should be delivered to players in a form other than cash.
• At teams’ home cities and in spring-training cities, players can stay at their desired locations, as long as they follow best practices such as avoiding public areas.
