WEBVTT - MLB's New Rules for Coronavirus

0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.680
<v Speaker 1>It's Friday, August seven. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily

0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:07.840
<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.

0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:11.280
<v Speaker 1>Major League Baseball is getting serious with new protocols to

0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:15.320
<v Speaker 1>prevent COVID nineteen outbreaks among players and staff. Anyone found

0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.000
<v Speaker 1>in violation of these new rules could be suspended for

0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:21.120
<v Speaker 1>the remainder of the season. Base Coverings are required at

0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:24.079
<v Speaker 1>all times, and players are even discouraged from talking to

0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:29.000
<v Speaker 1>or facing each other when eating or drinking together. Bob Nightingale,

0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.760
<v Speaker 1>MLB columnist at USA Today Sports, joins us for more.

0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:37.120
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for joining us, Bob, I wanted to check back

0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.839
<v Speaker 1>in on the baseball season so far. They're doing a

0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:44.840
<v Speaker 1>shortened sixty game season and it started off very rough.

0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:48.159
<v Speaker 1>First off that Miami Marlins had an outbreak of COVID nineteen.

0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:50.720
<v Speaker 1>Then it was a St. Louis Cardinals that also had

0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:52.920
<v Speaker 1>an outbreak. I think it was thirty three members total

0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:56.240
<v Speaker 1>between both teams that had gotten it. And what happened

0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.040
<v Speaker 1>after that, there was games that were postponed, and really

0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:01.280
<v Speaker 1>the whole season because it happened in the beginning, was

0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.200
<v Speaker 1>called into question. MLB has now put out a memo

0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:08.120
<v Speaker 1>with some new protocols in place, and they seem pretty strict,

0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:10.880
<v Speaker 1>and they're saying that if people are not in compliance,

0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:13.880
<v Speaker 1>they could get suspended for the rest of the season.

0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:15.760
<v Speaker 1>There's a lot of stuff going on, so Bob help

0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:18.760
<v Speaker 1>us walk through it. Yeah, very strict protocols. I mean

0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:20.759
<v Speaker 1>some guys are joking like that. I feel like I'm

0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:23.200
<v Speaker 1>in prison or Russia or something. But yeah, you have

0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:25.600
<v Speaker 1>to wear a face mask at all times except for

0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:28.919
<v Speaker 1>when you're in your own hotel room. In on the field,

0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.600
<v Speaker 1>umpires are wearing it. But even in the clubhouse dug out,

0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:34.760
<v Speaker 1>you're wearing it. They don't want you to dug out

0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:37.399
<v Speaker 1>if you're not playing again. The stands if you want

0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:39.959
<v Speaker 1>to have a bite to eat, eating stands if you can,

0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:42.760
<v Speaker 1>if not. If you eat, don't talk at the same time.

0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:45.520
<v Speaker 1>And when you're in the hotel and you're going stretch

0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:49.120
<v Speaker 1>your room, no stopping off of the hotel bar, no restaurant,

0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:51.920
<v Speaker 1>nothing like that. There's many guys watching you. There's gonna

0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.600
<v Speaker 1>be a guy uh in each clubhouse, and two guys

0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.840
<v Speaker 1>at the team hotel are kind of seeing the lobby

0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:00.800
<v Speaker 1>there for sixteen hours a day. It almost kind of

0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:05.240
<v Speaker 1>this modified NBA bubble if you will where there. Instead

0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:08.720
<v Speaker 1>of actually going and sequestering in a place throughout the season,

0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:11.639
<v Speaker 1>they're actually just gonna be watching you like hawks part

0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:13.240
<v Speaker 1>of it. You know, you mentioned the eating. If they're

0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:15.560
<v Speaker 1>eating in the clubhouse or wherever they're at, they say,

0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:18.320
<v Speaker 1>don't talk while you're eating and don't even face each other.

0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.480
<v Speaker 1>And for these guys that are teammates, they've been together

0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.520
<v Speaker 1>for a long time. That's part of the camaraderie. And

0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.200
<v Speaker 1>you know, you're like trying to isolate them as much

0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:29.880
<v Speaker 1>as possible. That's gonna be a tough one. I think

0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.680
<v Speaker 1>that's why they have the monitors there. Two security agents

0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.600
<v Speaker 1>at the hotel and one monitor in the in each clubhouse.

0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.760
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, again used to for sure, but I think

0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:40.440
<v Speaker 1>baseball says, hey, if you guys want to get to

0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.280
<v Speaker 1>this season, this is the only way to do it.

0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:45.080
<v Speaker 1>If you don't follow this, it's not gonna work. Like

0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.799
<v Speaker 1>you said, we already saw the Marlins and the Cardinals

0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:50.400
<v Speaker 1>where that was almost a case where you know, season

0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:53.200
<v Speaker 1>was almost shut down just because of what happened there.

0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:57.040
<v Speaker 1>The MLB did send out a memo about all of

0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:59.480
<v Speaker 1>these new protocols, and they did address what happened to

0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:01.600
<v Speaker 1>the Marlin and the Cardinals and why they postponed the

0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:03.680
<v Speaker 1>games and kind of what would happen in the future

0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:07.280
<v Speaker 1>if there was other outbreaks. What did they say about that, Yeah,

0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:09.800
<v Speaker 1>just they thought they were you know, in hindsight, they

0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.280
<v Speaker 1>should not have let the Marlins play that game against

0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:14.760
<v Speaker 1>the Phillies. They learned that Hey, even though you're in

0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:18.080
<v Speaker 1>the same field, one staff member got sick and nobody

0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.760
<v Speaker 1>else did, so maybe they should have allowed them to play.

0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:24.160
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, just being very very cautious with those teams.

0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:27.360
<v Speaker 1>And there's another outbreak like that, it's gonna shut down,

0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.639
<v Speaker 1>ah that team for another week again. But yeah, better

0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:33.480
<v Speaker 1>be safe than sorry sort of thing. But they probably

0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:36.880
<v Speaker 1>shouldn't let the Phillies play in hindsight as well. For them,

0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:38.120
<v Speaker 1>I think, you know, it was all part of the

0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.120
<v Speaker 1>contact tracing. They mentioned that they needed to make sure

0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:43.080
<v Speaker 1>that that process was complete, and I guess it was

0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.480
<v Speaker 1>happening a little too fast for them where they had

0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.760
<v Speaker 1>to pump the brakes just because they hadn't maybe finished

0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.960
<v Speaker 1>all the investigation there. What do we know so far

0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:54.800
<v Speaker 1>about how members of the Marlins team possibly got it

0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:57.560
<v Speaker 1>or even the Cardinals. I heard rumors that some of

0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.800
<v Speaker 1>the Cardinals went to U a casino and maybe where

0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.240
<v Speaker 1>they got it. What do we know about that? Well,

0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.480
<v Speaker 1>I think in the Marlins case, it was just simply

0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:09.240
<v Speaker 1>violating protocol being careless, as Derek Jeter said, where a

0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.360
<v Speaker 1>few guys went out at least two players and not

0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.520
<v Speaker 1>three players went out. One guy is when the Atlanta

0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.560
<v Speaker 1>Braves guy's house, a former teammate, someone went up for

0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:20.640
<v Speaker 1>coffee and clothes shopping that sort of thing, which you

0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:23.359
<v Speaker 1>can't do. In the Cardinals case, we still don't know.

0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:25.280
<v Speaker 1>It looks like it happened in St. Louis at corn

0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:27.680
<v Speaker 1>of the Cardinals. They be able to deny anything to

0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.640
<v Speaker 1>do with the casino, So it was just from an

0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:33.599
<v Speaker 1>outside person and it was a family member. Who knows.

0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.120
<v Speaker 1>But that's how that's spread. But both those things spread wildly.

0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.600
<v Speaker 1>Just on the team plane, Like if you haven't infected

0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.440
<v Speaker 1>guy in the plane, everybody's bringing that same air. So

0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:44.880
<v Speaker 1>that's where I can get dangerous. What are they gonna

0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:48.280
<v Speaker 1>do as far as monitoring the teams when they're not

0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:50.480
<v Speaker 1>at the clubhouse, you know, when they're at home, things

0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.560
<v Speaker 1>like that, because those are part of the new protocols too.

0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.320
<v Speaker 1>You can't go to any bars, lounges, malls, places where

0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:58.960
<v Speaker 1>there's large groups. I'm sure they're not gonna have monitors

0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.800
<v Speaker 1>following them out side of the clubhouse and things like

0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:04.800
<v Speaker 1>that in hotels, but it's just gonna be personal responsibility

0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.440
<v Speaker 1>at that point, it seems absolutely. I mean, you're kind

0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:09.720
<v Speaker 1>of at the mercy of the weakest link there. If

0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.600
<v Speaker 1>one guy goes out, it can work for anybody. So no,

0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:14.599
<v Speaker 1>you're actually right. Yeah, you can't follow a guy home

0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.200
<v Speaker 1>and no one's hit me sitting outside of guy's house

0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:20.560
<v Speaker 1>monitoring it. But they will monitor very closely when those

0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:23.880
<v Speaker 1>teams are on the road. With such a short season,

0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.440
<v Speaker 1>this has been my biggest curiosity. How does the scheduling

0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:30.200
<v Speaker 1>work when they have to reschedule these games and postpone

0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:31.839
<v Speaker 1>things and they got to try to catch up later.

0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:33.719
<v Speaker 1>How does it happened at least with these first few

0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.200
<v Speaker 1>games they got postponed. Well, they're some going to try

0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:38.080
<v Speaker 1>to get most of them in. I think they'll let

0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.880
<v Speaker 1>them get at least fifty five in. That's a minimum,

0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.200
<v Speaker 1>I think. But like the St. Louis Cardinals they missed

0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.520
<v Speaker 1>a hig games. There's already a ten of schedule to

0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:48.640
<v Speaker 1>make them all up the same. Maybe true at the Marlins,

0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:50.719
<v Speaker 1>but you know, worst comes to worse. You know, you

0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.039
<v Speaker 1>play fifty five games and not sixty, and then you

0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.440
<v Speaker 1>go by winning percentage, you know, sort of thing like

0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.520
<v Speaker 1>maybe you won't have the same type of criteria as always,

0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.960
<v Speaker 1>but go by winning percent and if the schedules are uneven,

0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.560
<v Speaker 1>just like it happened nine anywhile with the players strike. Well,

0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.920
<v Speaker 1>I mean it's interesting now that MLB has these new

0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:11.039
<v Speaker 1>protocols and threatening to suspend players and staff if they're

0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.279
<v Speaker 1>in violation. I mean, I hope they can get it

0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:15.880
<v Speaker 1>together and there's no more feature infections because people want

0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:18.880
<v Speaker 1>to have this escape the sports, you know, watching and

0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:21.360
<v Speaker 1>things that they love when uh, you know, things are

0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:23.400
<v Speaker 1>so tough all around. So hopefully they get it in

0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:26.120
<v Speaker 1>order and nothing else get happens as far as the

0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:30.600
<v Speaker 1>baseball season goes that way. Bob Nightingale, MLB columnists at

0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.120
<v Speaker 1>USA Today Sports, thank you very much for joining us.

0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:38.279
<v Speaker 1>Sure my buzzer, thank you. I'm Oscar Ramirez and this

0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.960
<v Speaker 1>has been reopening America. Don't forget the effort. Today's big

0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:43.679
<v Speaker 1>news stories. You can check me out on the Daily

0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:46.720
<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast every Monday through Friday, so follow us on

0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.160
<v Speaker 1>I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast