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Here are a couple quotes from ESPN - "The Minnesota Vikings announced Monday that head trainer Eric Sugarman and members of his family have tested positive for the coronavirus. "Sugarman also is the Vikings' infection control officer. He said in a statement that he and his family immediately quarantined and "are all doing fine and experiencing only mild symptoms." "The Vikings said they are sanitizing their facility and contacted anyone who was in close contact with Sugarman. The team said those team personnel have been tested "and are returning under the established guidelines." Yes, the infection control officer! "Two Monday night MLB games were postponed because of an outbreak of the coronavirus among the Miami Marlins. "The Marlins' home opener against the Baltimore Orioles is off, as well as the Philadelphia Phillies' home game against the New York Yankees. "Miami just completed a series in Philadelphia, and seven more players and two coaches with the Marlins tested positive for the coronavirus. An outbreak has spread throughout their clubhouse and brought the total cases in recent days to at least 13, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN's Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers." Half the team! CNN reports: "Eleven Marlins players and two coaches tested positive for the virus, ESPN reports. Marlins CEO Derek Jeter said the team is staying in Philadelphia, where it just played a three-game series, pending the results of a new round of testing. "Postponing tonight's home opener was the correct decision to ensure we take a collective pause and try to properly grasp the totality of this situation," Jeter said in a statement. "The positive tests come just days after MLB began its abbreviated 60-game season -- which had been delayed from its usual April opening because of the pandemic -- and already threaten to upend the young season." "In recent weeks, Miami has been one of the epicenters of the coronavirus, pushing hospitals to capacity. Miami-Dade County recently surpassed 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases." Florida has over 424,000 cases. So now what? What if the Phillies test positive? What if the umps test positive? What about the teams that they had contact with before this series? They played the Braves in an Exhibition. Think about what would happen if this was the week before the newly minted 60 day World Series. This is the Marlins so their 30 man taxi squad might be as good as the MLB roster. But are they on the 40 man? Do they bump players from the current 40 man? What about teams that didn't take the extra 30 man seriously? If I was a GM I would be reexamining the players I have on that team. For a contending team to lose 10 players for two weeks would be devastating. And what if the Marlins find that they have even more infected on their taxi and extra squad? Can they cancel the season for one team? I would. And if the Marlins infected the stars in Philadelphia, do the Phillies have any recourse? USA TODAY SAID "In hindsight, MLB never should have permitted the Marlins to take the field Sunday against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park after three players tested positive for COVID-19, just two days after another player tested positive. Marlins manager Don Mattingly said the team never considered not playing, but it is now clear that was a mistake and has put the entire season in jeopardy." CBS Sports had these quotes from Manfred "Manfred, who indicated that the Marlins could return to the field as early as Wednesday -- as a home team in Baltimore -- with "acceptable" testing results, responded that "[a] team losing a number of players that rendered it completely non-competitive" would be standard for considering a pause at the team level. That would of course require subjective judgment to determine whether a team had been reduced to "non-competitive" status, but it's at least a standard of some kind. "He was asked a similar question earlier this month as part of an appearance on Dan Patrick's radio show. Here's what Manfred said: "I don't have a firm number of days in mind (to pause the season). I think the way that I think about it, Dan, is in the vein of competitive integrity, in a 60-game season," Manfred said. "If we have a team or two that's really decimated with a number of people who had the virus and can't play for any significant period of time, it could have a real impact on the competition and we'd have to think very, very hard about what we're doing." "Despite having a call with the 30 team owners at 12:30 p.m. ET, the word is that MLB has no plans to cancel or pause the season at the present moment." https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/heres-what-rob-manfred-said-it-would-take-to-pause-2020-mlb-season-over-covid-19-concerns/ Chicago Tribune added this frightening note - "The news got worse for the White Sox hours later when it was revealed manager Rick Renteria awoke with coronavirus symptoms and was taken to a Cleveland hospital to get tested. The Sox announced Renteria would not manage Monday’s game, which was later postponed. The Sox had two players test positive before camp, including third baseman Yoan Moncada, and right fielder Nomar Mazara was placed on the injured list with no designated injury." https://twitter.com/MLBNetwork/status/1287893850833457152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1287893850833457152%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mlb.com%2F

After the deflating 49ers game I thought it was time to reflect on the two major sports teams (sorry Timberwolves – you do not have a story to tell and Los Angeles stole the Lakers. Wild you too lack a story to tell and Dallas stole the North Stars). The tale has some high points, but a lot of really low ones too. I will try to avoid 41 donut, taking a knee, and other embarrassments that have plagued the Vikings. At the same time I will try to avoid the improbable playoff losing streak of the Twins against the Yankees. This is just a summary and you can cry or dwell on the bright spots. Twins 3 world series 2 victories 1 loss games 11 - 10 Twins Wild Card game 0 – 1 (2017) Six League division series 1 – 5 games 5 – 17 League Championship series 2 – 3 games 9 – 12 The Twins played in 65 post season games 25 - 40 The Senators went to three world series and won one. The Vikings have been to the playoffs 31 times in their history Should you want to relive all the endings you can go to https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/min/playoffs.htm They have played in 51 post season games 21 – 30 Wild Card games 7 – 7 Divisional round 10 – 13 Conference Championships 4 – 6 Superbowls 0 - 4 Since 1961 we have seen these two teams get into 116 post season games. Collectively we are 46 – 70. But that does not cover our anguish. Let’s get the Twins to another World Series and start a new narrative.