It was hard to look at this any other way, seeing what happened the * last * time the Cardinals were shut down and then reunited in a week. After additional positive tests on Thursday night, the Cardinals will be shut down again, not only by this weekend’s expected series this weekend against the Cubs, but also next week.
Another three to five days of shutdown for testing:
#STLCards players are informed today that the team will not be assembling for at least 3-5 days and will receive per workout on their own training. Pittsburgh series will likely cancel.
– Mark Saxon (@markasaxon) August 8, 2020
In a now perfect scenario where the Cardinals will not play again until August 13, a doubleheader against the Tigers that is a make from games that have already been postponed, they will have been out of action for 14 days. And they would just rightly step back on the field and play not one but two games? Moreover, the Cardinals at that point would have to play 55 games in 46 days to pursue all 60 games in the season. I just do not see how that can happen.
I do not know what the solution is to keep them off, and decide that the games have not already been posted – the Cubs series, the upcoming Pirates series, and then those two games against the Tigers – are simply canceled, not postponed (I do not think Saxi necessarily intended to use that word – but I do think it will be on the table after MLB convenes to find out).
So, at that point, maybe the Cardinals can play 52 games this year? The Cubs and Pirates play 57, and the Tigers play 58? Maybe you played the Cubs and Pirates together for an extra three games to make it up? I do not know if you can make that work yourself, but I’m just spitballs, as MLB will do next. Of course, even if the Cardinals games are canceled, do you really want to place extra games on the Cubs or Pirates schemes (doubleheaders), you know you might have to do that with OTHER mandatory games in the future if more outbreaks occur ?
If the league is absolutely dead set on bringing each team to 60 games, then maybe they can push a few extra games for the Cardinals at the end of the season? Trying to get three extra games in two days? Of course, if you did that to the Cardinals and Cubs, you would be pushing both of their seasons right up until the start of the postseason with no breathing space at all (assuming the postseason starts ASAP after the regular season, that’s an honest bet now ).
