Toronto Blue Jays

Fresh off reaching the postseason for the first time since 2016, the Toronto Blue Jays are apparently looking to continue strengthening their roster in free agency.

MLB Network's Jon Heyman reported on the Big Time Baseball podcast (h/t Radio.com's Tim Kelly) that the Blue Jays have shown interest in veteran center fielders George Springer and Jackie Bradley Jr.

Randal Grichuk projects to be Toronto's starting center fielder in 2021. The Toronto Star's Gregor Chisholm wrote last month the team would benefit from upgrading at the position, citing Grichuk's defensive metrics:

"According to Baseball Savant, Grichuk tied for 32nd among 39 qualified centre-fielders this season with minus-one outs above average. Last year, he was marginally better, tied for 23rd with two OAA across 62 games. Defensive runs saved paints a similar picture, with Grichuk posting minus-eight in 2020 vs. plus-two a year ago.

"Grichuk's lack of range in centre would be less noticeable if he were surrounded by plus defenders, but this is an outfield where no one can hide. Teoscar Hernandez remains a liability in right, and after a breakout season at the plate he's staying put. In left, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has displayed promise with the glove—named a finalist for a Gold Glove, in fact, on Thursday—but is prone to gaffes and requires someone regularly backing him up."

Grichuk isn't such a great hitter that his offense offsets whatever value you sacrifice with him in the field. He finished 2020 with a .334 wOBA and 112 wRC+, per FanGraphs.

Springer and Bradley have contrasting profiles.

Springer is a two-time Silver Slugger with a .270/.361/.491 career slash line. He would not only be a defensive improvement over Grichuk but also provide far more production at the plate.

The 31-year-old is one of the best position players on the market, so the Blue Jays are almost certainly not the only team tracking him.

Should a pursuit of Springer fall short, Bradley would be the next-best alternative. 

He's hitting only .239 over his career, and his career-best .283 average this season was propped up by his .343 BABIP, according to FanGraphs. Still, his defense—Bradley was a 2018 Gold Glove glove winner—would provide something the Blue Jays don't have in center at the moment.

Veteran pitcher Robbie Ray has reportedly agreed to a free-agent deal to return to the Toronto Blue Jays next season.

According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, Ray and the Jays came to terms on a one-year, $8 million contract, marking the first free-agent signing for any team this offseason.

The Blue Jays acquired Ray from the Arizona Diamondbacks in August, and he went on to make five appearances (four starts) for Toronto during the regular season.

After struggling mightily to the tune of a 7.84 ERA in seven starts for the D-Backs last season, Ray was much better in Toronto. Over 20.2 innings, he went 1-1 with a 4.79 ERA and 25 strikeouts.

Ray also made one appearance during the Blue Jays' American League Wild Card Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, going 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA.

It wasn't long ago that Ray seemed to be among the fastest-rising stars in Major League Baseball. In 2017, he broke out by going 15-5 with a 2.89 ERA and 218 strikeouts in 162 innings. Ray was named an All-Star for the first time and finished seventh in the NL Cy Young award voting.

Ray dropped off in subsequent years, but he was still solid in 2018 and 2019. Ray went 6-2 with a 3.93 ERA in 2018 and 12-8 with a 4.34 ERA in 2019. He also continued to strike out batters at a high rate.

The 29-year-old lefty's best attribute is undoubtedly his swing-and-miss stuff. He owns a career strikeout rate of 11.1 per nine innings, and if he can harness that better in Toronto next season, he could be one of the top bounce-back candidates in baseball.

The signing of Ray may be the first of many moves for Toronto, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported Saturday that rival executives believe the Jays will be "as aggressive this winter in free agency as any team in MLB."

Toronto benefited last season from the expansion of the playoff field. As a result, the Jays reached the postseason for the first time since 2016 despite finishing seventh in the league. 

Signing Ray is a solid move for rotation depth, as Ray will remain part of a staff anchored by 2020 American League Cy Young finalist Hyun-Jin Ryu.

The Blue Jays also have several young, talented hitters—including Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cavan Biggio—making them a trendy pick to take a big step forward in 2021 and beyond.

For the first time since 2016, the Toronto Blue Jays are heading to the postseason. 

Toronto (30-27) locked up a wild-card berth with Thursday's 4-1 victory over the New York Yankees. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s solo home run and Bo Bichette's and Alejandro Kirk's RBI doubles paced Toronto's offense, and Hyun-Jin Ryu threw seven shutout innings for the win.

Earning a playoff berth in the shortened 60-game season was no small task for the Blue Jays, even with the expanded field, considering they had to battle the Tampa Bay Rays (37-20) and New York Yankees (32-25) in the strong American League East. 

The Rays clinched the AL East. The Blue Jays, who are two games behind the Yankees for second, can still jump New York in the standings with three games left. Regardless of where the two teams finish in the division, though, both will move on.

Along with the three AL East teams, the Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, Minnesota Twins and Cleveland have also qualified for the postseason. The Houston Astros are in the driver's seat for the eighth and final AL playoff spot.

Toronto will likely go as far as its offense can take it, particularly with an outfield of Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randal Grichuk all having big seasons. Add in Guerrero and Cavan Biggio and the Blue Jays are a threat to opposing rotations. 

It's the team's rotation that could really smother its title hopes. While Ryu has been solid and Taijuan Walker hasn't been bad since he was acquired, the rest of the rotation has bordered on hopeless for Toronto. 

If the starters can hand the bullpen a lead in the later innings, Toronto is in business as the relievers have performed well this year, led by Jordan Romano, Rafael Dolis, Anthony Bass and A.J. Cole. 

But if the Blue Jays aren't slugging, it's tough to win given the poor starting pitching. That limits Toronto's upside, but the team is capable of making a run. 

Taijuan Walker is on the move again after reportedly being traded from the Seattle Mariners to the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday. 

Per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, the Blue Jays will send a minor league player to be named later to Seattle for Walker.

The Blue Jays will be Walker's third team since 2019. He played that year with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but only made one appearance in the final game of the regular season after his recovery from Tommy John surgery in April 2018. 

After being nontendered by the Diamondbacks, Walker signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Mariners in February. 

With the Mariners still in the early stages of a rebuild, a player like Walker carried more value to them as a trade piece than a potential long-term asset. His already-low salary looks even more attractive halfway through the season, as teams figure to be more conscious about money with no ticket revenue coming in. 

Walker has been able to put together a solid performance thus far in 2020. The 28-year-old has a 4.00 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 27 innings. His fastball velocity isn't quite back to pre-Tommy John levels, but it is averaging a respectable 93 mph, per FanGraphs. 

As Walker continues to rebuild his arm strength, the velocity could increase late this season and boost his potential value in free agency. 

The Blue Jays are getting Walker as they look to solidify their pitching staff for a potential postseason appearance.

Toronto has been a pleasant surprise so far this season. Its 15-14 record ranks third in the American League East and would be good enough for a wild-card spot in the expanded postseason format. 

Hyun-Jin Ryu and Chase Anderson are a solid duo atop the Blue Jays' rotation, but there are significant questions behind them.

Matt Shoemaker, Trent Thornton and Nate Pearson are all on the injured list. Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told reporters on Tuesday that Pearson was diagnosed with a flexor strain in his pitching arm and hopes to play catch this weekend.

Walker isn't an ace who will push Toronto's pitching staff over the top, but he's been much better than anyone the team can call on for depth down the stretch. As long as he can stay healthy for the stretch run, he increases the Blue Jays' chances of making the playoffs for the first time since 2016.   

The Toronto Blue Jays have apologized for insensitive shirts worn by their players referencing the team being forced to find a new stadium to play home games this season. 

Per TMZ Sports, the Blue Jays issued a statement apologizing for a "lapse in sensitivity" after multiple players sported a "Homeless Jays" T-shirt during interviews. 

"The Blue Jays take accountability for ensuring negative stereotypes are not perpetuated and for supporting marginalized groups in our community," the team said. "The club has addressed the issue of the T-shirts with our players and they will not be worn again."

Rowdy Tellez wore the shirt during a Zoom press conference recently, while Anthony Bass shared a picture of it on Twitter:

We don’t mind. Here to work. #homelessjays pic.twitter.com/E6DCb0k0l9

— Anthony Bass (@AnthonyBass52) August 15, 2020

Rowdy Tellez sporting the homeless T-shirt for today’s Zoom call. #Bluejays. pic.twitter.com/bBB210axoM

— Rob Longley (@longleysunsport) August 14, 2020

Backlash from the shirts stemmed in part from harmful stereotypes often associated with homeless people, as well as the growing number of citizens in Canada and the United States who were either being evicted from their homes or faced the threat of eviction because of economic issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Canadian government announced on July 18, five days before the start of the MLB season, that the Blue Jays weren't permitted to play home games at Rogers Centre because of safety concerns over traveling back and forth between Canada and the United States. 

The Blue Jays attempted to share home stadiums with either the Baltimore Orioles or Pittsburgh Pirates, but the local governments in both of those cities ruled against it as a safety precaution. 

The Jays officially announced on July 24 they would play home games at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, home stadium of their Triple-A affiliate.   

The Toronto Blue Jays announced Sunday that star shortstop Bo Bichette was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right knee sprain.   

Bichette was held out of the team's Sunday doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays.

"I don't really have a timeline," manager Charlie Montoyo said regarding the injury, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. "It just wasn't good news for everybody when we heard it today."

Bichette could be facing a long layoff. 

Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun reported that "the injury is worse than first feared and Bichette could be out of the lineup until mid-September. That prognosis could change after further diagnosis and treatment and Bichette is renowned for his work ethic, but the team is expecting a lengthy absence."

Montoyo said Bichette suffered the injury while stretching before going to hit Saturday, but he didn't say anything until after the rain-shortened game. 

"We lost at this point one of the best players in baseball, the way he was hitting the ball," Montoyo said Sunday. "Somebody's going to have to pick up the slack. It's a big loss losing Bo."

The 22-year-old Bichette is an emerging star, hitting .356 this year with five homers, 13 RBI, 11 runs and four stolen bases in 13 games. He is also in the midst of an eight-game hitting streak and has settled nicely into the No. 2 spot in the lineup. 

UnBOlievable 😳

Bichette has homered for a FOURTH straight game! pic.twitter.com/c7qoV8yQXg

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 15, 2020

UnstoppaBO 😱

Bichette's streak of 7 straight games with an extra-base hit and an RBI is the longest by a SS in @MLB HISTORY! pic.twitter.com/7bdAxeewTW

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 15, 2020

"It's tough," Anthony Alford said. "He's a big bat in our lineup, and he's been swinging the bat really well. But at the same time, we've got other guys in the lineup who can hit."

Joe Panik and Brandon Drury could each see time at shortstop in Bichette's absence. 

Somewhere along the way, Buffalo—nee Toronto—Blue Jays right-hander Tanner Roark acquired a stack of T-shirts from former Washington teammate Dan Uggla, who loved to spit a crass phrase after smashing a home run, words that were blown up on those shirts over a silhouette of a swinging batter:

Sack Up!

Roark's stash of tees is five or six years old, but you know what they say about fashion: Wait long enough and what was old becomes new again. something will come back into style again. And so it is that during their three-week travel odyssey leading to Buffalo and this week's inaugural "homestand," Roark is delighting, again, in his sartorial choice at the ballpark. 

"I honestly stole it from [Uggla] because it's what we've gotta do, right?" Roark said on a videoconference the other day while wearing one of the shirts.

Sack Up!

Even while debuting in Buffalo this week, America's Favourite Adopted Road Team is playing out this funky, fragile and abbreviated season as the baseball version of a Johnny Cash song. They've been everywhere, man. Boston; Tampa; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; and Boston (again) over the past three weeks. Now Buffalo…then Baltimore, then Buffalo, Tampa and Buffalo (again).

They were supposed to be in Philadelphia to begin this month, too, but instead the Jays were marooned in Washington for a weekend when their series with the Phillies was postponed because of COVID-19 concerns.

"Worst part was, Washington was there too," Blue Jays right-hander Trent Thornton tells B/R. "We were hoping we could keep playing them so we wouldn't have so many days off, especially for the guys swinging a hot bat or pitching well."

What's even weirder was the Jays' status as the designated "home" team on July 29 and 30 and Nationals Park suddenly becoming Toronto-centric, including stadium personnel blasting the seventh-inning anthem "OK Blue Jays"—one of the game's most underappreciated traditions—on the big-screen scoreboard.

"There were a couple of guys chuckling, but with no fans, it's not like there was anyone other than us to appreciate it," Thornton says.

🗣 What do you want???

LET’S PLAY BALL! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/V43JDnnoLB

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 30, 2020

Then, after splitting a four-game series against the Nationals from July 27 to July 30, the Jays were forced to go dark for four days before resurfacing in Atlanta on Aug. 4.

It's been dizzying. The Blue Jays last saw Toronto on July 20, when they finished spring training 2.0 at the Rogers Centre. They next will see Toronto, theoretically, April 8 for their 2021 home opener against the Los Angeles Angels.

That is, if the pandemic has cleared by then.

"It hasn't been easy, but I'm proud of my team," says manager Charlie Montoyo, whose Jays are 6-8 and 3.5 games behind the Yankees in the AL East. 

"You know, at first Buffalo is going to feel like a visiting ballpark. But after a couple of days, it's going to feel like home."

Toronto's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition started in mid-July, when the Canadian government declined to grant permission to the Jays to play in Toronto.

"Unlike preseason training, regular-season games would require repeated cross-border travel of Blue Jays players and staff, as well as opponent teams into and out of Canada," Marco Mendicino, Canadian immigration minister, said in a statement. "Of particular concern, the Toronto Blue Jays would be required to play in locations where the risk of virus transmission remains high."

The Jays briefly considered playing at their spring home in Dunedin, Florida, and then cut a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates to borrow PNC Park as their home yard. But that, too, was nixed, this time by Pennsylvania health officials because of a steep increase in COVID-19 cases in the southwestern portion of the state.

Then there were talks between the Jays and the Baltimore Orioles…but before Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, top pitching prospect Nate Pearson and the rest of the Baby Blue Jays could take an 0-for-3, the team decided to nest at Sahlen Field, home of its Triple-A Buffalo affiliate.

From there, the GPSs were locked and loaded.

The last team to encounter such unusual travel was the Expos during their final two seasons in Montreal, when they played part of their "home" schedule in Puerto Rico in 2003 and 2004. At one point in '03, the Expos played 22 games over 24 days in six cities covering nearly 12,000 miles.

"We measure it by pairs of underwear," Montreal shortstop Orlando Cabrera quipped to ESPN at the time. "This is a 25-underwear trip."

The Jays have been gone so long that when Rob Longley, who covers the club for the Toronto Sun, encountered a coach on the streets of Boston over the weekend, the coach admitted he was shopping for a desperately needed sundry: underwear.

Yes, what's old is new again.

"We've been put through the wringer," Bichette said on a recent videoconference call. "We've been in limbo since spring training was canceled [in March]." Who knows, maybe that wringer eventually will be needed to help clean their underwear too.

"We're still in limbo," Bichette continued. "But we're going to continue to fight and continue to battle, no matter the circumstances."

The Jays' first "home" game was supposed to have been July 29, the week they were in Washington. But because of the late agreement with Buffalo, Sahlen Field was still undergoing its big league face-lift.

The Jays and MLB installed new lighting and brought in lighting trucks too. They laid new infield sod and built a temporary clubhouse in the right field parking lot area for visiting clubs. Toronto is using both the home and visitor clubhouses so as to meet social distancing guidelines. They constructed batting cages in the stadium's concourses (doable, because no fans) so the players have extra space to hit and throw.

And they splashed new paint all around the joint in Blue Jays colors and put up team logos to make this traveling band of merry baseball nomads feel at home.

Well, as much as you can feel at home when you don't have your own fridge, couch or closet.

"This is a complete and total mental grind on and off the field," Roark says. "Most of us are not able to see our families for quite some time. I just saw my wife and kids for the first time in a month.

"It's definitely grinding on both sides. But once you step on the field, it feels normal, pitching and competing."

For the 29 other teams that are playing real, live home games, at least most of those players have houses and loved ones to return to, with grassy backyards or nearby parks to get some fresh air during the day.

Not the Blue Jays. Because they are even headquartered in a hotel while in Buffalo and must follow all of MLB's road protocols every day. Which, having been tightened following the COVID-19 outbreaks among the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals, means they aren't allowed to leave the hotel except to go to the ballpark. The only hall pass is to seek permission from the club's traveling compliance officer for a legitimate need, such as, say, walking to a nearby drugstore to obtain a prescription. With masks, of course.

"We're basically like robots," Thornton says. "We wake up, go pick up our food from a little ballroom or the lobby and take it right back to our rooms and eat. We're not allowed to be in each other's rooms.

"Then it's time to go to the field, and it's the same thing there. We don't get to make any of our own decisions. If you do, there are consequences."

The people they see are the same every day, right down to the pilot and flight crews for their charters.

There was a glimmer of fun on the horizon during those four days without a game in Washington when Michael Shaw, director of team travel, was arranging a bus tour through D.C. to see the monuments and historic sites. But then, because of virus concerns, that was canceled.

"That was my first time being in Washington, and I was hoping to be able to see some of the things around there," Thornton says. "There was a decent amount of us going. But then they had to pull the plug, and we couldn't even do that."

In their blur of planes, buses and ballparks, there are no breaks for the Blue Jays, even to, say, enjoy a nice dinner out on an off night.

And that's what separates the Jays from everyone else.

"We're legitimately hardcore quarantining," Thornton says. "[Other] people can quarantine at their house, go out, keep themselves busy. Where we're maybe eating, sleeping, on our phones or watching a movie in our room. That's all we can do."

Says Roark: "The good thing is, I'm a gamer. I could sit here and play PlayStation and be fine. ... We'll see how it goes from here."

Since the season started, things are looking up: When spring training 2.0 began in Toronto in early July, the Jays all had to quarantine for 14 days after crossing the border into Canada, which meant they worked out at the Rogers Centre and lived in the hotel on the property.

"You'd go days without sunlight because you were in a dome," Thornton says.

Any player caught stepping out of that dome was subject to a $750,000 fine from the Canadian government, so that sort of discouraged any temptations to go rogue for, say, a doughnut run.

"I think they really benefited from being stuck at Rogers Centre for those two-and-a-half weeks," says Jays television analyst Buck Martinez, who managed Toronto in 2001 and 2002 following a 17-year playing career. "We saw them many times just sitting around the ballpark talking baseball.

"Travis Shaw would have the position players sitting around one corner talking, and the pitchers would be together too. A couple of guys said, 'This reminds me of college, just sitting around and talking.'"

Indeed, the organization has been impressed by the players' esprit de corps.

"If you look back to the beginning of summer camp and think about the different things that have been asked of our players, the different turns our season has taken from a location and challenge standpoint, navigating the virus, remaining safe and healthy, the evolution of the virus in the U.S. and the evolution in Toronto…" Jays general manager Ross Atkins said on a videoconference call Tuesday. "Navigating all of these things, our players have been just awesome.

"There is zero complaining and zero excuse-making happening."

The joint effort between the organization and the city of Buffalo to transform Sahlen Field into a major league facility provided a pick-me-up this week for the suitcase-toting Blue Jays. Atkins, whose first experience at Sahlen was in 1997 when he was a pitcher in the Cleveland organization and Buffalo was the Indians' Triple-A affiliate, said his first glimpse of the renovated park "from the highway was a mouth-opening, jaw-dropping experience."

"What they did to brand it and make it feel like the Toronto Blue Jays' home really is jaw-dropping," Atkins says.

From Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown's point of view, the work wasn't all that onerous.

The transformation is complete! Welcome to Sahlen Field. #WeAreBlueJays pic.twitter.com/37ObFtGJND

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 11, 2020

"We didn't have to repair any damage from Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s line drives or fix any streets outside of the stadium from his home runs that left the ballpark and crashed down in the streets, fortunately," Brown jokes to B/R of the Jays' slugger who briefly called Sahlen Field home in 2018 and 2019. "So we're a step ahead there."

Brown recalled how much excitement Guerrero Jr. provided for Buffalo then, how he "absolutely packed" the stadium and that "even though [fans] can't be in the stands, they're really excited to have Vladimir back here and calling Sahlen Field his home again."

Not far from the field, where Gabriel's Gate serves up the best wings in Buffalo, according to Bon Appetit magazine, the city is doing its best to roll out the red carpet—even if its people are still learning about the new kids in town.

"Oh my gosh, I can tell you what you need to know about chicken wings. But the Blue Jays, not as much," restaurant manager Kelly Hall says.

It's OK, Blue Jays. Focus on the wings!

"I'm a big wings fan," Thornton says. "I definitely want to try as many wings as possible. I've been talking to a lot of teammates who played here before, trying to get their best recommendations."

With players prohibited from going out, even ordering in is a challenge: Delivery people must drop the food off at the hotel's front desk, and then someone is required to bring it to a player's room from there.

"It's a process within a process within a process," Thornton says.

As important as the W's on the scoreboard will be, it's the little victories off the field that will help break the monotony of this strangest of seasons. To that end, Thornton plans to see if he can score one of those T-shirts from Roark, whom he calls a "great leader" and says "is going to be a big part of our success this year, steering the young guys in the right direction."

Roark already has done a little of that, counting himself as one of the guys who voted to play in Buffalo.

"Go the old-school route and sack up," Roark said. "Ultimately, it's going to build that cohesion, playing in a Triple-A facility. It's going to build the toughness, the grit.

"Other teams are not going to want to come in there and play us just because it's Triple-A and they don't have all of the amenities as they do at a big league ballpark.

"We're going to be known as grinders. And I love grinders, because that's what makes you who you are at the end of your career, or at the end of the day."

        

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

A video showing the arrest of Toronto Blue Jays catcher Reese McGuire was released by TMZ Sports, showing him after being caught masturbating in public.

McGuire was arrested in February and charged with "exposure of sexual organs" after he was seen in a public parking lot outside a mall in Dunedin, Florida, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.

The audio of the exchange with the Pinellas County police officer shows that McGuire was unaware that others were in the area until police knocked on his window.

"I realized, what an idiot," the 25-year-old said of himself. "What a dumb place to be hanging out."

He later tried to convince the officer not to charge him.

"I've realized that I made a mistake having my pants down and doing what I was doing," he said. "And if there's any way I can really learn from it and hopefully no one's harmed. ... I really am apologetic. And I know I shouldn't have been doing this."

McGuire later pleaded nolo contendere to a reduced charge and only had to pay a fine and court costs, per TMZ Sports.

Toronto Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo announced the team has postponed its three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies, which was scheduled to begin Saturday. 

The Phillies subsequently released a statement:

pic.twitter.com/5DWC2U8HJh

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) July 30, 2020

The Blue Jays played the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on Wednesday, losing 4-0 in 10 innings. Toronto is hopeful of staying in Washington, D.C., for the remainder of the week to continue working out.

#BlueJays determining next steps on the fly. They'll ask the Nationals for permission to stay in D.C. and keep working out over the weekend. If the Jays don't get permission to do so, they'll figure something else out. Buffalo one option.

— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) July 30, 2020

Montoyo on if #BlueJays can't work out this weekend in DC: "I wouldn't take Buffalo out of the equation but we've got to find a place." Says might have clarity after today's game.

— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) July 30, 2020

The Blue Jays' move comes after the Phillies announced a coach and member of the clubhouse staff tested positive for COVID-19.

Philadelphia had already postponed four games against the New York Yankees after the Miami Marlins' COVID-19 outbreak. Sunday's encounter between the Marlins and Phillies proceeded despite the confirmation of positive tests on Miami's roster.

According to ESPN, 19 total members of the Marlins' traveling party have tested positive.

MLB shortened the season to 60 games, having delayed Opening Day due to the pandemic. Having all 30 teams hit that 60-game mark already looks difficult since the Phillies and Marlins each have seven games to make up at a later date.

Phillies manager Joe Girardi posited on SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio that completing the full regular-season slate may not be a priority, with the focus instead on getting to the playoffs.

"If this situation [Sunday against the #Marlins] were to happen again, would you feel comfortable taking the field, as a team?"

"I don't think so."@Phillies | #Phillies | Joe Girardi pic.twitter.com/I2RJj47FqQ

— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) July 28, 2020

ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Wednesday that MLB laid out stricter coronavirus-related guidelines in the wake of the Marlins' outbreak to avoid a second one with another team. Among the rules is the inclusion of a compliance officer with every team's traveling party who monitors whether players and coaches are following the health and safety protocols.

Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Cavan Biggio explained Friday why he decided to kneel during the national anthem before the team's Opening Day game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

According to Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet, Biggio said it came down to supporting teammate Anthony Alford:

Cavan Biggio on his decision to take a knee during the national anthem prior to tonight's Blue Jays game pic.twitter.com/onvSdlgcHI

— Arden Zwelling (@ArdenZwelling) July 25, 2020

Many players knelt during the anthem over the first two days of the MLB season, and most of those who didn't either placed their hand on the shoulder of a kneeling teammate or held a black ribbon in a show of unity.

Protests against racial inequality, social injustice and police brutality broke out across the United States following the killing of 46-year-old Black man George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.

Floyd was killed after officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee pressed against the back of Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes while he was facedown on the ground and in handcuffs. Floyd said several times that he couldn't breathe.

Chauvin was fired, arrested and charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The other three officers on the scene—Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Keung and Tou Thao—were also fired and charged with aiding and abetting.

Many major sports leagues have taken steps to allow their players to protest, as well as support the Black Lives Matter cause.

MLB is allowing players to wear social justice patches on their jerseys and giving them more freedom when it comes to their footwear, including permitting social justice themes. MLB has also painted an inverted MLB logo on all fields that reads "BLM" for Black Lives Matter.

Biggio, who is white, admitted that while he didn't initially have any plans to kneel during the anthem, he wanted to help Alford, who is Black, feel more comfortable to do so himself.

While Alford is a depth player for the Blue Jays, Biggio is one of their fastest-rising stars, and he showed why Friday, as he hit a home run and drove in three runs in Toronto's 6-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.