New on Sports Illustrated: Major League Baseball Is a Complete Mess: TRAINA THOUGHTS

Ignoring protocols, poor communication also big problems for MLB

1. I don't subscribe to the theory that the Major League Baseball season is in jeopardy–yet.

The season is not going to shut down because the Marlins are having a massive outbreak of positive coronavirus tests. The league would need multiple teams to get hit with COVID-19 in order to shut down the season.

If this is an isolated incident and other teams don't get hit with an outbreak, the 2020 season will go on with no interruptions.

However, the sport has plenty of issues to fix besides the Marlins' not being able to field a team, starting with how this Miami situation got so bad.

After three players tested positive on Sunday, bringing total number of Marlins players with positive tests at four, the players decided to play that day's game against the Phillies. That is pure insanity. That is not a decision that should be left to the players. It should be up to Major League Baseball.

Via The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal:

"Marlins manager Don Mattingly said his team 'never really considered not playing' on Sunday. The club’s most respected veteran, shortstop Miguel Rojas, told the media afterward that all 30 players discussed the situation Sunday morning, but said not playing was 'never our mentality.' "

If nonsense like that continues, then the season will definitely get shut down.

The other issue seems to be that the Marlins players clearly didn't follow guidelines given how rampant the virus has spread. If you watched any games over the weekend, you saw players not wearing masks, high-fiving and touching each other. That stuff must be cleaned up ASAP.

Another thing baseball needs to do is get its act together when it comes to communicating with its players. If this claim by the Phillies' Andrew McCutchen, which was retweeted by Yankees slugger Luke Voit (the Phillies and Yankees have now had their games postponed the past two days after the Phillies played the Marlins over the weekend), is true, it's totally unacceptable.

How on earth are you not giving your players minute-by-minute updates during a crisis?

MLB's own actions are just as much as a threat as corona when it comes to what can shut down the 2020 season.

2. Speaking of being a complete mess ...

3. J.J. Watt was clearly impressed with himself after Leg Day yesterday.

Or he was inspired by the Rock, who posted this a few days ago.

4. Magic City, the establishment that Clippers guard Lou Williams left the bubble for so he could pick up some wings, is milking the story for all its worth, and it's pretty great.

5. The latest episode of the SI Media Podcast features an interview with Joe Buck, who talked about baseball's return, calling games during a pandemic, podcasting, the art of interviewing and much more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.

6. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Emmy nominations came out this morning, and Schitt's Creek was nominated for Best Comedy while the shows stars, Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara were nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress. If you're looking for a show to binge while you have nothing but time to kill during a pandemic, I can't recommend Schitt's Creek enough.

7. SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: There won't be an NFL Hall of Fame game this year, so let's remember the all-time greatest Hall of Fame game play.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.