Montoyo voices concerns ahead of Blue Jays’ series vs. Phillies

TORONTO – Having only recently found stability by settling on Buffalo, N.Y., as their temporary 2020 home, the Toronto Blue Jays are facing fresh uncertainty on the schedule ahead of them tied to a COVID-19 outbreak with the Miami Marlins.

Major League Baseball postponed a handful of games Tuesday for the virus-struck club, which will be sidelined through Sunday, as well as the Philadelphia Phillies, who remain in isolation after hosting the Marlins over the weekend and are off until Friday.

That’s when the Blue Jays open a three-game set versus the Phillies, playing as the home team at Citizens Bank Park while preparations continue at Sahlen Field in Buffalo. They had been set to stay in the same hotel that housed the Marlins, but instead will check in elsewhere once they depart Washington, where the Nationals voted against flying to Miami this weekend.

“It’s a scary time in the game,” acting Blue Jays closer Anthony Bass said. “All around the world, as well. I’m glad that Major League Baseball is taking the necessary steps to quarantine those players and staff members that tested positive. I know we’re doing our best to stay (away) from those players that tested positive. We switched hotels, so we won’t be staying at the same hotel the Marlins did. So I feel pretty confident that the Jays and Major League Baseball are doing everything they can to keep everyone else safe, and keep the season going.”

The Marlins’ outbreak, with half their roster testing positive, has raised questions about whether the MLB season should continue its season, and at what point enough is enough.

On Monday, commissioner Rob Manfred told MLB Network that “a team losing a number of players that rendered it completely non-competitive would be an issue we’d have to address and have to think about making change. Whether that was shutting down a part of the season, the whole season, that depends on the circumstances. Same thing with respect to league-wide. You get to a certain point league-wide where it does become a health threat and we certainly would shut down at that point.”

For now, MLB is determined to push forward and there are ethical and moral debates about the wider risk to communities where infected players are present. Marlins players remain in Philadelphia as they aim for a resumption of play next week, putting hotel staff at risk, while the Phillies have undergone two days of testing to ensure there was no on-field transmission.

In that sense, they’ve become an inadvertent litmus test on that front, suggesting that on-field contact may be a poor way to vector COVID-19. In a release Tuesday announcing its schedule changes, MLB said of the more than 6,400 tests conducted since last Friday, no team other than the Marlins returned a positive result.

Manager Charlie Montoyo reiterated that his Blue Jays, who suffered an outbreak at their training site in Dunedin, Fla., at the end of June, continue to preach confidence and vigilance.

“There are concerns from everybody everywhere,” Montoyo said. “We all are trying to be safe. Even the Nationals, because we were coming from Florida (had concerns). Everybody’s got concern and everybody’s got to be safe and follow the guidelines. That’s the only thing we can do, that’s the only thing we can control. But of course there are concerns.”

As for being the first team to line up against the Phillies since their exposure to the Marlins, Montoyo said: “You’ve got to keep your distance. Of course when someone gets to first base they’re going to be pretty close … but we’re going to try to be safe and try to stay away, like we have, from the other players. And the other players are trying to stay away from us. Everybody is trying to stay away from everybody. It’s working for us, so far any ways.”