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We have had Marlins, Phillies, and now Cardinals test positive. We have had replacement games with the poor Yankees having to play the highly rated Orioles. Monday the Postponed games were - Yankees at Phillies; Orioles at Marlins. Tuesday - Postponed games: Yankees at Phillies; Orioles at Marlins. Wednesday - Postponed games: Phillies at Yankees; Orioles at Marlins. Replacement game: Yankees at Orioles. Thursday - Postponed games: Phillies at Yankees; Orioles at Marlins. Replacement game: Yankees at Orioles. Today - Postponed games: Cardinals at Brewers; Phillies at Blue Jays; Nationals at Marlins. Weekend games already postponed (both Saturday and Sunday): Phillies at Blue Jays; Nationals at Marlins. And the Cardinals just left Minnesota. The Blue Jays are postponed and do not even have a home to go to. If MN is postponed will it be during the Cleveland Series and the Pirates. The first set is fine, but lets not lose out on Pittsburgh. In a 60 game season that is 12 postponed games. The end of September the playoffs are scheduled to follow the jampacked season. So we will have teams at this stage who have played 50 - 60 games. No guarantees. Fair? They are ready for double headers now with 7 inning games - how about triple headers with 5 innings each? Four game sets at three innings each? Or we just roll dice and pretend it is an APBA season. Oh yes, the question (s) - if this blows up in the next week or two - do the stats still count or will Bieber and others be short changed. I mean the games are regular season like the counting stats for Upton's 300th HR, does Kelly's suspension go away, Does Cabrera lose his three HRs as he goes for 500 or the hits as he looks for 3000?

This morning Major League Baseball was hit with another blow. The St. Louis Cardinals had two players test positive for COVID-19 with an immediate fallout of postponement of action against the Milwaukee Brewers. We’re playing through a pandemic here however, so what really was the plan? When Rob Manfred and the owners finally came to agreement on economics it appeared, they also had sorted out safety protocols. What it seems they didn’t have ironed out was the logistics surrounding continuation of play. It’s one thing to suggest that a season be decided on winning percentage if not all teams get 60 games in. That can’t happen if some only play 30 or 40 games. These teams are tested every other day, or potentially daily in some instances. Rapid tests are taken at will, and in the case of the Nationals Juan Soto, relatively indicative of what the saliva tests may show. What has to be determined, and seems like it remains up in the air, is what constitutes an outbreak and what doesn’t. Last week the Miami Marlins decided via group text to play through a game despite four players testing positive. They allowed the virus to run rampant within their clubhouse and now have over 60% of their 30-man active roster dealing with positive results. Something like that isn’t going to be overcome by a 3-man taxi squad, and very clearly isn’t as easy as calling on players from the alternate site either. On the other hand, the St. Louis Cardinals had just two players test positive following their departure from Minnesota on Wednesday night. To postpone action against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday seems to negate the planning MLB put in place. The 3-man taxi squad was not designed to account for injury, that’s why there’s an additional 30 players at the alternate site. What the taxi squad was talked about doing was providing an immediate replacement should someone need to go on the COVID-related IL. Each team has up to three players traveling with them to all away games. If they aren’t going to be immediately substituted onto the active roster when a positive tests appears, then there’s little reason for them to be subjected to travel and increase virus contraction at all. Since the beginning Major League Baseball’s goal has been to play an unprecedented season amidst a global pandemic. That’s going up against some significantly substantial odds, but if you’re going to operate like that there has to be a level of “next man up.” Postponing each game in which a test or two come back positive on any given day will certainly fail to give this season a chance. Maybe this was always going to be the probable outcome. We still don’t have this under control across the country, so the feasibility of baseball being doable remained a longshot anyways. However, as unfortunate, and competitively unjust as it is, the show must go on. Either Rob Manfred has to decide that taxi squads have a purpose to fill in rosters (and maybe even expand that group), or even a limited number of positives will bring the sport to its knees. It has been a tenuous start to this whole thing, and there won’t be much more opportunity to get it right. Step back and get it together now, or we’ll continue to go through the motions on something that fizzles out shortly anyways. Side note: Young Bat Co. is giving away a Nelson Cruz bat mug! For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

On the heels of the home opener Rich Hill will take his talents to the mound for the first time this season. Originally slated to miss the beginning of the year, a global pandemic allowed him ample opportunity to be on the mound from the get-go.LAST GAME RECAP MIN 6, STL 3: Donaldson Breaks Out, Early Offense Leads to Another Twins Win QUESTION OF THE DAY What has been your favorite Player’s Weekend nickname? TODAY Cardinals at Twins, 7:10 pm CT Betting Lines: MIN -1.5, -185, 10.0 O/U Twins: Rich Hill, LHP (info below via Baseball Savant) Download attachment: Rich Hill.PNG As you can see from the data provided by Baseball Savant, there’s a lot of things Rich Hill does at an elite level and really only one where he comes up short. This is a guy that hasn’t averaged over 90 mph on his fastball in a season since 2016. He doesn’t use velocity to blow it by you, and his bender gets tossed roughly 45% of the time. Hill’s bugaboo has always been health, but he’s made at least 12 starts in each season dating back to 2015. He’s with the Twins in hopes of winning a World Series, and with over 50 innings of Postseason work under his belt the experience is absolutely there. Although velocity has become king in recent years Hill lulls batters to sleep with his off-speed stuff. He doesn’t generate a ton of whiffs, but the soft contact keeps him ahead and last season he posted a career best 49% ground ball rate. Keeping the opposition off balance allows him to slip an 89-mph fastball by, and it’s more than apparent this is a veteran who knows his stuff and how to get the most from it. Cardinals: Daniel Ponce de Leon, RHP (info below via Baseball Savant) Download attachment: DPL.PNG Thrust into the rotation Ponce de Leon will make his first Start since September 1 of last season. He's worked in a hybrid role for the Cardinals each of the past two seasons both starting and relieving, but has posted just 48 and 33 innings respectively. Without a ton of velocity, Ponce de Leon does generate his fair share of strikeouts. His bugaboo since debuting in the majors has the inability to avoid free passes and last year that resulted in a 4.8 BB/9. He's also susceptible to the longball, and that obviously is more problematic against power hitting lineups. LINEUP NEWS & NOTES — More positive tests came down the pipeline for the Marlins. They have now had 17 positive tests, or more than half of their 30-man roster. They were already trying to find ways to supplement their active players and now will be facing an even larger uphill battle. — A ton of schedule shuffling took place today as the Marlins were put on a suspended timetable as they await a cleaner bill of health. No other teams found new tests, and Major League Baseball will push on for now. — We’re already dealing with a season of unprecedented proportions and changing on the fly is something MLB did on Opening Day with the Postseason. Buster Olney brought forward a strong suggestion recently in regards to organization of record credibility. There’s going to be games cancelled and postponed. With a shortened timeframe to actually get them in, trying to make them all up is probably a losing proposition. — Today's scheduled starter for the Cardinals goes on the shelf needing surgery on his right elbow. St. Louis is apparently looking at external options to fill their rotation as well. AROUND THE AL CENTRAL CLE 4, CWS 3 (Gm 1) CLE 5, CWS 3 (Gm 2) DET 4, KC 3 Standings 1. CLE 4-1 2. MIN 3-1 3. DET 3-2 4. KCR 2-3 5. CHW 1-4 SEE ALSO 9 Thoughts from 9 Innings of a Home-Opening Win Paving a Path, Women in Baseball: Kate Townley 5 Reasons Nelson Cruz is a Good Bet to Win the AL MVP Click here to view the article