MLB postpones a 10th consecutive Cardinals game due coronavirus as another St. Louis player tests positive following last week’s outbreak that infected seven teammates
- Friday’s Cardinals game against the Cubs has been postponed after another St. Louis player tested positive for coronavirus following last week’s outbreak
- Major League Baseball announced the move on Friday, saying that the postponement allows for additional testing and contact tracing
- Friday was supposed to mark the return for the Cardinals, who have not played since July 29 due to 13 positive tests within the team’s traveling party
Friday’s Cardinals game against the Chicago Cubs has been postponed after another St. Louis player tested positive for coronavirus following last week’s outbreak, which infected seven teammates.
Major League Baseball announced the move on Friday, saying that the postponement allows for additional testing and contact tracing.
Friday was supposed to mark the return for the Cardinals, who have not played since July 29 due to 13 positive tests within the team’s traveling party, six of which belonged to non-players.
The Cardinals spent five days in quarantine in a Milwaukee hotel before finally being cleared to travel back to St. Louis late Tuesday, when they returned negative tests for the second straight day. They got workouts in at home and had been prepared to return to the field Friday.
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Carlos MartÃnez wears a face mask as he watches baseball practice at Busch Stadium Tuesday, July 7
Earlier this week, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said it’s not clear how the virus swept through the clubhouse, but the team thinks it could have come from someone who was asymptomatic.
Not all of the players who tested positive have been publicly identified, but those who have include All-Stars catcher Yadier Molina and shortstop Paul DeJong.
Unlike the NBA and NHL, which have largely succeeded in keeping coronavirus out of their respective bubbles in Florida and Canada, MLB’s pandemic-shortened season is taking place at clubs’ home fields and not in a centralized, monitored location.
The Cardinals’ outbreak was minor compared to the Miami Marlins’, which involved 18 players.
Now Miami will finish the season playing 27 games in 23 days, a stretch featuring no days off and four doubleheaders in a 10-day span.
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Andrew Miller wears a face mask as he stands in the outfield during baseball practice at Busch Stadium Wednesday, July 8
Miami was already scheduled to host Philadelphia for four games September 10-13. The series has been extended to include a game on Monday, September 14, and doubleheaders have been scheduled for that Friday and Sunday.
MLB shortened doubleheaders this year to a pair of seven-inning games to help keep pitchers fresh during a condensed 60-game schedule that’s been squeezed further by the rash of postponements.
The Red Sox’s scheduled visit to Miami on September 14 has been pushed back a day to make room for the seven-game Phillies series. The Marlins have also scheduled three doubleheaders with the Nationals – August 22, September 18 and September 20 – to make up games postponed from last weekend.
The Phillies will play doubleheaders against the Toronto Blue Jays on August 20 and September 18, and also added a home doubleheader against Boston for September 8.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, have added three doubleheaders against the Brewers to a previously scheduled series to make up their three games postponed last weekend. Milwaukee will host doubleheaders September 18 and 20 and will serve as the home team in the opener of a twinbill in St. Louis on September 25.
The Cardinals will make up this week’s series against the Detroit Tigers with doubleheaders August 13 and September 10. St. Louis had been scheduled to play the Chicago White Sox at the Field of Dreams in Iowa on August 13. Those teams will play in Chicago on August 14 instead.
Manager Don Mattingly and the Miami Marlins have faced MLB’s biggest coronavirus outbreak