DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Rangers infielder Isisah Kiner-Falefa gave some insight into life on the road for big league players during the coronavirus pandemic.
Kiner-Falefa described a stressful situation for players and said baseball is running a tight ship while teams are on the road after the COVID breakouts in the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals organizations, as well as the Mike Clevinger/Zach Pleasac fiasco, almost derailed the season.
"MLB actually has someone just walking around the hotel to make sure we don't do anything. Just based off previous teams and what they've done and how it affected the season. So MLB has been very strict. It's almost cooler to be at home because you can at least do a little more and have some people around. But when you're on the road it's almost like prison. You can't leave your room. Even if you go down to the lobby (you'll get in trouble). I think for us this year, the physical part's been okay, but mentally it's starting to wear on a lot of people. (I'm) just curious how far this can go on."
Kiner-Falefa was then asked about the people MLB has employed to police the players in hotels, but he says they don't know who they are.
"They do a good job of hiding. We don't know what exactly they do. I know there was a couple of our guys that just went down to the lobby, took their mask off for a quick second, went to their room, and got a text message saying they got caught."
Despite the team being kept sequestered on the road, Kiner-Falefa understands the players are in a unique position this season and are making the most of it despite the mental challenges they are facing on a daily basis.
"It's kind of scary but at the same time it's good for us to make sure we don't pass the virus and we're staying safe. But on the human side of it, not being able to give your teammates a hug, a high-five, it's taken away a lot of the joy we have playing the game. But at the same time, Hawaii (his home state) just started their second lockdown, so I could be locked up in my room for another three weeks. So just kind of putting things in perspective and understanding that the whole world is dealing with this and not just us. So we're just happy to play ball."