Rob Manfred explains proposed quarantine process for MLB season

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred took to CNN on Thursday evening to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic and what it means for baseball.

MLB owners put together an 80-page health and safety proposal that was presented to the players’ union earlier this week. There will eventually be a negotiation over player salaries, but this proposal focused on how players will be kept safe over the course of a proposed 82-game season that would start in early July.

One notable piece of information to come out of the interview is the quarantine process if a player tests positive. Said player(s) would be taken to a quarantine facility and amidst contact tracing, the player would be able to return when he tests negative twice in a 24-hour window. Thus, the season would not be shut down at this point over positive tests.

There would be regular testing, with antibody testing implemented as well. Of course, that would require the availability of extensive testing. The league could potentially get access to it, but there is a PR hit to be taken if a league has access to extensive rapid response testing if the rest of the country does not have similar access. Leagues will balance those PR concerns with the financial concerns they have over missing a season if there is not extensive nationwide testing when leagues are attempting to return to action.