Tigers taking safety protocols seriously to salvage season, even when other teams apparently aren't

Detroit — It's all up to the players.

That's been the message, delivered practically daily by the players themselves, and even occasionally the coaching staff, since even before the Tigers commenced "Summer Camp" at Comerica Park.

That's the only way Major League Baseball is going to get through this increasingly bizarre, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, 60-games-and-dropping regular-season schedule.

"Yeah, completely, we have," said Tigers starter Matthew Boyd, the team's player rep for the union. "When the news comes out, it's reinforced, it's brought back to the surface.

"There's lots of lessons to be learned."

News of the St. Louis Cardinals' COVID-19 outbreak — seven players and six staffers have tested positive, at last check — is troubling enough, but even more disturbing are the reports that some members of the ballclub had visited a casino before the outbreak.

This comes after reports that some members of the Miami Marlins had gone out on the town in Atlanta, before their own COVID-19 outbreak.

Cardinals management have said they've seen no evidence of the casino trip; Marlins management has acknowledged its players fell into a false sense of security.

The Cardinals have had seven games postponed, including four against the Tigers this week, though postponed should be in quotes, given the odds of all the games being made up are slim to none. They haven't played since July 29, and there's no telling when they'll resume. The Marlins, who had as many as 20 positive tests, hadn't played since July 26, but were scheduled to resume their season Tuesday night, starting a series at the Baltimore Orioles.

More: Cardinals series unlikely to be made up; Detroit on winning-percentage watch

Boyd acknowledged the first reaction to the news of the postponements was disappointment, not just that the Tigers couldn't play ball, but that some perceived loose behavior by players around the league has threatened to derail this season.

"You know the gut reaction is, like, awww man," Boyd said. "It's not my place to judge. We don't know what happened. There's no official word, so to pass judgment on them, especially not knowing what happened, it's not my play, you know.

"With that, you kind of have that reality check. We don't write the script, we just respond to it, and what's our response to this going to be? How can we respond and make the most of that? That's what we're doing.

"It doesn't mean our thoughts don't go there (to disappointment) ... but worrying about it or complaining about it isn't really going to change anything."

Boyd and the Tigers have had few issues with COVID-19, aside from some players, most notably Daniel Norris, catching it during Summer Camp.

That's not by accident. The Tigers, he said, remain vigilant with their social-distancing practices at and, most importantly, away from the ballpark.

They've been following their protocols and MLB's, and Boyd said MLB is working on instituting additional, stricter safety protocols, though nothing has been finalized yet.

It's really all about policing each other. It always has been.

More: Gardenhire: 'I'd have a hard time' staying if team suffers COVID-19 outbreak

"An awful lot," said Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire, asked how often the COVID-19 situation has been brought up with the team. "We've had meetings, lots of meetings, and anytime we see something, we have more meetings about it. Just talking about your responsibilities as a player is to your family and this baseball family. You have to take care of yourself off the field and do all the right things.

"It's not easy. People like to go out, go to the grocery store every once in a while. ... You've just gotta cut that stuff down as much as you possibly can, make it only when necessary. You can't eliminate all of it, but you have to eliminate a lot of it.

"We've talked about it over and over with our guys, and I think they've done pretty good."

It's not just about off the field, though.

It's about the players' actions at Comerica Park, too, even though they're all being tested. They still have to come to the ballpark from somewhere. They're not in a bubble at Brush and Adams. Unlike the NBA and NHL, and even golf — which, likewise, put stricter protocols in place once the PGA Tour had a mini-outbreak of its own early in its restart, and the results have been good — there's no bubble with MLB, despite early conversations about playing the entire season in Arizona and Florida.

"Players do talk to each other ... and I'll go walking by, 'mask, please,'" Gardenhire said. "That type of stuff. It can be a little fun, because you get to blow somebody up.

"These guys know how important it is. They're getting it done."

Now, it's just a matter of getting it done on the field, which they can't do until their season resumes Friday night in Pittsburgh (Boyd will get the start, of course). They're 5-5 and have opened some eyes, even nationally, with several national media outlets moving them up their power polls.

They're far from a finished product, obviously. The rotation is chaos right now, and they strike out too much. But they're scoring runs, which they forgot to do most of 2019, and the bullpen — yes, the bullpen — has been, mostly, a bright spot.

If the season ended today, at 5-5, they'd actually in be in the 16-team playoffs. 

Of course, the "if the season ended today" line takes on a much more real meaning in 2020, because, well, it could. There's no telling whether MLB will make it to the finish line.

"There's a lot of ownership on each other, everything relies on the shoulders of the guy next to you," Boyd said. "And that just kind of travels around the league.

"We can't control what other teams are going to do, but we can take care of ourselves, we can take care of our business, we can be vigilant in what we're doing.

"The rest of the year will take care of itself. Worrying about it, trying to figure out what's gonna happen, really doesn't do anybody any favors. Because, nobody knows."

tpaul@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tonypaul1984