The perfect answer for what to do with the St. Louis Cardinals does not exist.Major League Baseball has options, but every potential solution comes with a wince, a grimace, a caveat or a condition. The mi steps and poor decisions that have brought the Cardinals often by following flawed, naively optimistic MLB protocols to this point have a sured there are no perfect answers. While the NHL, NBA and WNBA have managed to stay almost completely virus-free in their bubbles, the Cardinals have now had 10 players and seven staff members test positive for COVID-19. This coronavirus debacle makes the Marlins early outbreak look like a hiccup.MORE: The Cardinals have mi sed 13 consecutive scheduled games including the three-game series in Pittsburgh that was scheduled to endWednesday and have no real idea when theyll return to the ballpark for anything other than daily COVID-19 tests. At the moment, theyre supposed to play a doubleheader in Michael Irvin Jersey Detroit on Thursday no, wait, that was postponed, too and start a three-game series against the White Sox in Chicago on Friday, but theres little confidence that will happen.In terms of when are we going to get back on the field and get back to baseball, I just dont know, John Mozeliak, the Cardinals president of baseball operations, told reporters Sunday night, . Well allow a few days to come and go and then well rea se s. ... Its a bummer. But not having experience on how to truly isolate it and prevent it from spreading, were learning as we go. So I wish I had better answers. I wish I had something firm. But I dont at this time.So what, exactly, are the options? Well take a look at several, from the extreme to the reasonable. And while were doing that, I thought wed sprinkle in thoughts from some Cardinals fans. I asked folks on Twitter for one word to describe the Cardinals' 2020 season, and an explanation for why they chose that word.One word, and why:Surreal. Normally Id be texting or calling family and friends a few times a week about how the Cards are doing, but now that the Cards are smack dab at the nexus of this global story, I find myself avoiding bringing them up because its just such a downer to think about. Its the inverse of what baseball usually is for us; instead of a salve, its a reminder of all that is so scary and unknown. One word, and why:Frustrating. I went into this season knowing it was going to be an anomaly anyway, but it was going to offer a chance to see both exciting young players like Jack Flaherty and Ryan Helsley and the twilight games of Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina. It's frustrating that fans cant see that. Anthony Lawrence II Jersey The way baseball set it up, an outbreak was going to happen to some team, if not more than one, and the priority was on return ASAP because the clock is ticking rather than return when its appropriate. 1. Cancel the Cardinals seasonIm not sure anyone who mattered really considered this a po sibility, but with the team already mi sing more than two full weeks of a nine-week schedule, its not a completely crazy thought. Its also not happening, which is why were starting with this one, just to eliminate it from the conversation. MLB commi sioner Rob Manfred spoke with Derrick Goold, the team beat writer from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on Monday. He spoke in clear terms.I absolutely see a path back for the Cardinals, . That is dependent on getting enough days with no positives that were comfortable with, that we dont have a contagion risk. But, yes, 100 percent I see a path back.OK, so thats that.One word, and why: Cruel. Deng Gak Jersey I might have chosen pitile s. This season, once Rob Manfred mandated it, was destined to be a game of coronavirus roulette. First the wheel stopped on the Marlins; then the Cardinals turn came. Because MLB constructed a plan with its (currently typical) 50-50 mix of a suredne s and incompetence, there were bound to be problems. There are likely more to come, and its unfair to place blame anywhere but on MLB. One word, and why: Delusional. What happened with the Cardinals could have (and may still) happen to any team, but this notion that the season could be played, in a pandemic, without the luxury of a bubble was just flat-out stupid. I understand the psychological need for normalcy but the reality is that these are not normal times. I also don't understand why waiting just a few days between positive tests was enough time? Is it Braxton Berrios Jersey a superman complex? Pushback from MLB? The psychological justification we have all made during COVID that we are being safe when in actuality, we werent? MORE: 2. Accept fewer than 60 gamesThis is almost certainly going to happen, if for no other reason than, mathematically, trying to play 55 games in 47 days is damn near impo sible, even with seven-inning doubleheaders. So the question is this: Whats the minimum number of acceptable games? Manfred, in the Post-Dispatch article, talked about playing enough games to be a credible competitor this year. A bit of honest speculation: That number is almost certainly smaller than you might imagine. If 55 games are enough, why not 50? Why not 45? Why not 40?Because heres the deal:We have to stop thinking of the 2020 baseball season in any sort of tied-to-history context. And, I get it, thats really difficult for most baseball fans (this one included). More than any other sport, baseball has a deep connection with its history, warts and all. But this year is truly a one-off. If MLB can magically decide to place a runner on second base to start extra innings, nothing at all is sacred. If, in this season of widely expanded playoffs, a team makes the playoffs despite playing a dozen or more fewer games than a team that just mi ses the playoffs, thats OK.Remember, 16 Andre Johnson Jersey of the 30 teams will make the postseason. Its very OK.Also, there is historical precedence for teams playing different numbers of games, when the stakes were much higher. In the strike-split season of 1981, MLB decided to split the season into two halves pre-strike and post-strike and award playoff spots to teams with the best records in each half. But heres the thing: The league didnt alter the schedule from its original form, and that made a HUGE impact on which teams made the postseason.When the strike hit, the Dodgers had a 36-21 record. The Reds were a half-game back in the NL West, at 35-21. The Dodgers got the playoff spot, despitethat because of the way the schedule happened to fall they had played (and won) one more game than the Reds. Same scenario played out in the second half, too, in the NL East.The Expos had 53 games on their schedule after play resumed, and the Cardinals had 52. You can gue s what happened: The Ex