‘Everyone Can Do Better’: Baseball Searches for Blame Amid Outbreaks

“If your leadership is showing how important it is and you’ve got the front office, like we have here, taking it very seriously, then that’ll trickle down to the players taking it seriously,” said Yankees pitcher James Paxton, who sits on the players’ union executive subcommittee.

Mike Zunino, a catcher for the Tampa Bay Rays who has two young children, said he thought often about not continuing to play this season after the Marlins’ and Cardinals’ outbreaks.

“I’d be lying if I told you it didn’t cross your mind every day when you see positive tests come out,” he said, adding later: “I have a lot of trust in the team here, the guys, we’re doing stuff the right way. It’s a real conversation I have every day just to see how the dynamic of the league is going.”

While he is not opting out, the Boston Red Sox’ top pitcher, Eduardo Rodriguez, will not play this season because he is still recovering from myocarditis, the inflammation of his heart, which he developed after contracting the virus before the season.

“Hopefully if somebody does test positive, we don’t just immediately point the finger that they’re doing something wrong,” Lester told reporters on Saturday. “They could have gone to Target and needed soap and got it there. Hopefully, we can get away from pointing fingers immediately to the bad side of things. Hopefully, the real stories come out, and maybe they’re good. And if they are bad, then that sucks — it’s unfortunate that guys made bad decisions on that.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/02/sports/baseball/mlb-coronavirus-outbreaks.html