Jim Mone/Associated Press

Report: Cardinals Discussing Pausing Season Amid Recent COVID-19 Outbreak

Paul Kasabian

The St. Louis Cardinals are considering pausing their season after six players and staff tested positive for COVID-19, per Derrick S. Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Three unidentified players and three staff members, all of whom are part of the Cardinals' 58-person traveling party, have tested positive, and the team's four-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers from Friday through Sunday has been canceled.

The Cards' Monday game against the Detroit Tigers has also been postponed, meaning the next contest on the slate is a Tuesday road matchup with Detroit.

St. Louis started its season 3-2 before traveling to Milwaukee to face the Brewers. Initially, only the Cards' Friday game was postponed after testing conducted Wednesday before the team's road game against the Minnesota Twins revealed two positive player tests.

The Cards traveled to Milwaukee before hearing about the results, which were released Friday, and the team has been in self-isolation in its hotel since. However, the rest of St. Louis' series was canceled after testing results released Saturday revealed confirmed cases for three staff members and another player.

The Cards aren't the only team that has been forced to postpone games.

The Miami Marlins, who had 18 players test positive for COVID-19, have not played since last Sunday. The Philadelphia Phillies, who played the Marlins to open the season, have also been sidelined this entire week.

Miami will return to the diamond Tuesday, however, with a game against the Baltimore Orioles, per R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports. The Phils will face the New York Yankees on Monday.

The MLB season is forging onward despite the positive tests, but the entire campaign would appear to be on the brink, with two teams suffering outbreaks before the season was two weeks old.

Per ESPN's Jeff Passan on Friday: "Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred told MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark on Friday that if the sport doesn't do a better job of managing the coronavirus, it could shut down for the season, sources familiar with the conversation told ESPN."

MLB doesn't appear to be at that point, but the risk is still prevalent as the pandemic continues its spread throughout the United States. Per the World Health Organization, there have been over 4.45 million confirmed cases in the U.S. alone, with 67,823 confirmed Saturday.

   

Read 91 Comments

Download the app for comments Get the B/R app to join the conversation

Install the App
×
Bleacher Report
(120K+)