Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Bryce Harper (3) and first baseman Rhys Hoskins (17) hold a black ribbon in support of the Black Lives Matter movement before opening day against the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Phillies not cleared to play Friday amid coronavirus concerns

By Zac Wassink | Last updated 7/29/20

The Philadelphia Phillies will have to wait at least one extra day to restart their 2020 pandemic-shortened campaign that's only made it through three games as of July 29.

MLB shut down both the Phillies and Miami Marlins after Philadelphia was exposed to the Miami coronavirus outbreak due to hosting the Marlins last weekend. Miami is off through at least the coming weekend, while the Phillies were hoping to return to play on Friday.

Philadelphia won't receive that wish.

On Wednesday, MLB insider Ken Rosenthal tweeted that the Phillies won't be cleared to play before Saturday at the earliest.

Phillies will not play Friday, source tells The Athletic. Doubleheader against the Blue Jays on Saturday and a single game on Sunday.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 29, 2020

As noted by ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Phillies have returned zero positive coronavirus test results since the series against the Marlins.

For the second consecutive day, all of the Philadelphia Phillies coronavirus tests for players and staff members have come back negative, a source familiar with the situation tells ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 29, 2020

The Athletic's Jayson Stark reported the Phillies should be good to go as long as nobody tests positive for the virus by Saturday.

Players have been told that if they were exposed to the virus by playing the Marlins, those positive tests would show up between Thursday and Saturday. So this makes sense. https://t.co/9pTv5jWzyV
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) July 29, 2020

This goes with the timeline mentioned by epidemiologist Dr. Zachary Binney on Monday's "Starkville" podcast when he explained that the Marlins and Phillies should be shut down for at least five days. MLB could, however, sit Philadelphia until Sunday, at the earliest, as a precautionary measure so the league and club can complete a final round of testing.

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