'Another tough day': Marlins, Mets must play while mourning Jose Fernandez
With 162 games jammed into 183 days, Major League Baseball’s schedule is often referred to as a “grind” or “marathon,” particularly as it relates to the physical health of players.
Less often cited is the degree of emotional punishment involved.
Monday night, the Miami Marlins and New York Mets will play a baseball game of great import to the National League wild card race, contested on a field that just a day earlier served as a makeshift memorial following the stunning death of Marlins ace Jose Fernandez in a boating accident.
Marlins Park will be more somber than celebratory as the Marlins regroup for their first game since Fernandez’s death.
The Mets honored Fernandez by taping a Mets jersey with his name to their dugout wall on Sunday. Outfielder Yoenis Cespedes did those honors; he, like Fernandez, defected from Cuba and says the jersey is coming on the road trip.
“It’s going to be another tough day,” Cespedes said Sunday after the Mets won their final home game of the season. “We’re going to take the jersey and will be putting it up again.
“We want to let him know that we’re still thinking of him, knowing that that’s his town and we’re on his field.”
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The Mets enter the game atop the NL wild card, a 1 ½-game cushion over third-place St. Louis. The Marlins are not out of the picture; they are 4 1/2 games behind the Giants and four behind the Cardinals for the final wild card spot.
Their longshot playoff hopes won’t be on their mind so much as the man who was supposed to start Monday night’s game. Fernandez, 24, left the Marlins clubhouse for the final time Saturday night, bound for a late-night boating trip with two close friends made possible by the fact his Sunday start was pushed back a day.
The Marlins gathered and honored their friend and teammate Sunday just a few hours after learning of his death. They’ll attempt to compete Monday night, a task as difficult as it might appear.
“We're not robots. We're humans,” infielder Martin Prado said at Sunday’s news conference. “He made an impact on everyone. I understand we have to play games. But there's a lot of pain.”
For the past 13 seasons, MLB has tried to reconcile the unrelenting schedule with life events all players face, with its bereavement and paternity lists allowing players a few days’ leave without the club losing a roster spot.
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There is no such contingency for an entire roster. Adam Conley will start tonight in Fernandez’s spot, and the Marlins will play out their final five games, their 161-game season total a permanent reminder of Sunday’s game against Atlanta that will never be made up.
The bouquet of flowers on the Marlins Park mound will be removed Monday, to make way for competition. The hearts and minds of the players may be elsewhere, too.
