Dodgers' David Price Opting Out of Season Will No Doubt Start a Chain Reaction

As the number of positive coronavirus cases continued soaring this past week, it truly seemed like a matter of time until players around Major League Baseball began opting out of playing the 2020 season.

Los Angeles Dodgers hurler David Price started this trend on Saturday when he took to Twitter in a lengthy statement to confirm that he won't be playing this year. As expected, the former Cy Young cited the health of his family as the driving force behind his decision.

Los Angeles Dodgers starter David Price has opted out of playing in 2020. pic.twitter.com/CzMEqVesY5
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 4, 2020

This news is a pretty big blow to the Dodgers, who were surely hoping that Price would help fill the void left by Hyun-Jin Ryu after he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays as a free agent this past offseason. All of a sudden, Los Angeles' rotation is now extremely top heavy with Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler leading the way.

Throwing baseball talk aside, it's clear that Price put a lot of thought into this decision, and we fully understand where he's coming from. After all, he wasn't the only MLB star to take a stand this weekend. Atlanta Braves right-hander Felix Hernandez listed the same concerns in the report that revealed he wouldn't be playing in 2020 either.

Felix Hernandez has opted out of the 2020 season due to concerns over COVID-19, his agent Wilfredo Polidor of Octagon said.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) July 5, 2020

The first and second dominos have fallen, and we don't doubt for a second that a chain reaction is looming.