If the NBA and NHL are looking for the key to smooth and successful seasons without the aid of a bubble, they should start in early August, a few days after a COVID-19 outbreak jeopardized the rest of the Major League Baseball season. That’s when the Marlins issued a directive to their traveling party.
Twenty positive tests—18 players and two coaches—had sidelined Miami for eight days and thrown the whole enterprise into question. Baseball couldn’t even get through its opening week. How could it possibly expect to stage a season amid a pandemic?
The Marlins had determined that no one had engaged in what club owner Derek Jeter called “salacious activity.