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Baseball’s Messy Covid Strategy May Still Be Model for Sports

MLB managed to finish season without strict NBA-style bubble
Justin Turner virus test mars end of mishap-free playoffs

Austin Barnes of the Los Angeles Dodgers scores a run during during Game Six of the MLB World Series on Oct. 27.Photographer: Tom Pennington/Getty Images

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By Richard Chess and Luke McGrath

October 28, 2020 at 6:51 PM UTC

Los Angeles Dodgers fans are loudly celebrating a World Series win, but Major League Baseball is quietly claiming a victory of its own.

After a tumultuous regular season that resulted in 57 players testing positive for Covid-19, MLB’s more sequestered approach to the playoffs successfully staved off cases until the final game of the World Series on Tuesday. It was a bit of a rough landing, with Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner testing positive and having to leave mid-game. But MLB showed that you could at least finish a season without the stricter, fan-free “bubbles” adopted by the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League.