Report: MLB commissioner Rob Manfred warns season could be shut down

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is considering shutting down the 2020 season if the sport does not do a better job of managing coronavirus, according to an ESPN report.

Manfred reached out to MLBPA executive director Tony Clark on Friday, according to ESPN, to relay his concern following an 18-player outbreak among the Miami Marlins plus two positive tests by St. Louis Cardinals players on Friday, causing yet another game postponement.

Fifteen games were postponed in the first week of the season because of coronavirus-related problems. The Nationals are not playing this weekend because they were scheduled to go to Miami to play the Marlins. They voted against traveling to the state of Florida before Manfred decided the Marlins would be sidelined until at least Sunday. "Given the current circumstances, MLB believes that it is most prudent to allow the Marlins time to focus on providing care for their players and planning their Baseball Operations for a resumption early next week," the league said in a statement.

Questions about whether players are stringently following on- and off-field protocol have surfaced since the outbreak among the Marlins. The Nationals, for one, have not had to go on the road yet -- where it appears the most likely prospect for a protocol breach lurks.

The league is just a week into its restart and flooded with problems. Manfred does hold the authority to shut down the season he invoked per the March 26 agreement between the league and union. Major League Baseball appears more on track for that outcome than it does to make it through another nine weeks of regular-season play.

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