Major League Baseball has postponed the game on Friday afternoon between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers after several visiting Cardinals tested positive for Covid-19, according to an ESPN report.
The Cardinals played in Minnesota on Tuesday and Wednesday before a day off scheduled for Thursday. The Twins welcomed Cleveland on Thursday night, meaning the Indians likely used the same clubhouse as St Louis. Minnesota is slated to host the Indians again on Friday night.
The game, which was scheduled to start at 2:10 p.m. EST, is the latest hit by Covid-19 and follows an outbreak of the virus with the Miami Marlins that resulted in an entire week of their postponed games as a result.
The postponement means that six major league teams, or 20% of the 30 MLB teams, will be sidelined on Friday due to positive tests for coronavirus. Two other scheduled games that involved the Marlins, the Washington Nationals, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies had already been postponed due to the consequences of positive tests.
MLB said Thursday it was updating its coronavirus safety measures after a 17th player in the Marlins tested positive for Covid-19, less than a week after the 30 clubs opened a shortened and delayed season in empty stadiums.
The Marlins outbreak, which came to light Monday after the team played a three-game series en route against the Phillies, led the MLB to postpone all games for the National League East club until at least on Sunday amid doubts that the team could reopen their season as scheduled at home on Tuesday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading U.S. infectious disease expert and key member of the White House coronavirus task force, expressed concern about the Miami situation when asked about it during an appearance in ABC’s Good Morning America show on Tuesday morning.
“This could put him in danger,” said Fauci. “I don’t think they should stop, but we just have to follow this and see what happens to other teams day by day.”
The Phillies said Thursday that there were no positive results among players from Wednesday’s tests. However, two members of the club’s back room staff tested positive, prompting the postponement of this weekend’s series against the Toronto Blue Jays and the cancellation of all team field activities.
The pandemic had already forced MLB to delay and truncate the well-known 162-game, six-month season to a 60-game, 67-day sprint with a series of rule changes designed to speed up the game and protect players and umpires.
About a dozen major leagues have chosen to exit the season entirely, citing the health risks from Covid-19. Others who are playing, such as Washington Nationals relay pitcher Sean Doolittle, have voiced doubts about the company as case numbers continue to rise across the country.
“We are trying to get baseball back during a pandemic that killed 130,000 people,” Doolittle said July 5. “We are much worse as a country than in March when we closed this. And, like, look at where the other developed countries are in their response to this. We have done nothing of what other countries have done to recover sports.
“Sports are like the reward of a functioning society. And we’re trying to get it back, even though we haven’t taken any of the steps to flatten the curve. “
