Major League Baseball is currently facing its worst case scenario. With over half of the Miami Marlins team being infected with COVID19, they’ve been shut down for a week as baseball tries to figure out an alternate schedule to their alternate schedule on the fly.

At the moment, while no one is saying it, no one knows if the Marlins will be able to field a team in a week. We also don’t know what the Philadelphia Phillies tests results will look like in a day or two. To a certain extent, the 2020 baseball season is hanging by a thread.

That is the backdrop to what happened in Houston last night.

Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly was lightning rod. First, on a 3-0 pitch, he threw behind Alex Bregman. With this being the Dodgers-Astros, and with the cheating scandal, you can’t help but wonder if this was a message. On that point, it must be noted Kelly wasn’t part of that Dodgers team, and he was part of the Red Sox team who beat the Astros in the ALCS.

Things got worse from there.

In the ensuing at-bat, Michael Brantley would spike Kelly, who was covering first on the fielder’s choice. Brantley also apparently had something to say to Kelly after the play.

https://twitter.com/itskatttt/status/1288312972662603777?s=21

The inning continued with Kelly, who never had good control, walking Yuli Gurriel on four pitches. Then came the critical Carlos Correa at-bat.

In the at-bat, Kelly lost control of a curve and it came in on Correa.

https://twitter.com/asterisktour/status/1288312530620866560?s=21

Later in the at-bat, Kelly struck out Correa, and he taunted him on the way back to the dugout. Correa was not about to be shown up like that, and he instead yelled at Kelly, started moving towards him, and ultimately, he caused the benches to empty.

https://twitter.com/asterisktour/status/1288313888421838849?s=21

Lets start with the obvious. No, Kelly should not be throwing at or near people’s heads. That’s not alright, and it merits a suspension in its own right even with Kelly claiming it wasn’t on purpose and his referencing his viral video of his breaking his own window during the shutdown.

Not to sound like a conspiracy theorists, but Joe Kelly clearly broke his own window three months ago in an attempt to cover his tracks for this matchup against the Astros.

Genius. pic.twitter.com/k8b0VZmVK7

— Patrick Lyons (@PatrickDLyons) July 29, 2020

The cynic in you wonders if Kelly was playing the long game here.

On Correa, Major League Baseball needs to come down hard on him. We’re in the middle of a pandemic, and there are protocols in place to stop and help prevent the spread of COVID19.

More than the pandemic, there’s the aforementioned situation with the Marlins. Despite all of that, Correa ignored all the protocols, and he didn’t go back to the dugout like Kelly was. He caused the benches to clear.

With what is happening with the Marlins, MLB promised to be more stringent in enforcing the protocols. This was the complete opposite of that. This was causing 50+ people to be in face-to-face contact with one another.

Major League Baseball needs to deliver a message this is not permissible. They need to get control and strictly enforce the measures in place to stop another outbreak and to permit baseball to have a 2020 season.

We can dicker on what constitutes a significant suspension, especially in a 60 game season. Whatever that line is, Correa must receive a significant and lengthy suspension. In fact, a season suspension should not be off the table.

That may seem absurd, but consider this. If a player, coach, or manager, who was on that field had COVID19, Correa’s actions created a situation where that person could’ve more easily spread the virus. Suddenly, we’re now talking three teams shut down. At that point, no one is playing baseball, and the season might be over.

Taking that and everything into account, Correa must be suspended.