PHILADELPHIA – Instead of preparing for Monday night’s game against the Phillies by submitting to saliva tests for COVID-19, attending meetings and watching videos of their at-bats at the team hotel, the Yankees spent the day locked up waiting to see how the same tests were performed. Taken by the Phillies earlier in the day it turned out.
The Phillies expected the results later in the night. It was unclear when the Yankees would get their tests back.
MLB announced Monday morning that the Yankees and Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park, and the Orioles-Marlins game in Miami, were postponed while the league conducted additional COVID-19 tests after 11 players from Marlins and two coaches tested positive over the weekend when they were in Philly for three games.
MLB did not provide information on the status of the Yankees game Tuesday night against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. It was unclear whether the clubs would play a double game or a game or not. Obviously, the plan would be tied to the Phillies’ test results.
The Yankees were still at the team hotel at 5:30 p.m., so it was highly likely that their travel plans depended on the results of the Phillies’ tests.
With the Phillies slated to play the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday and Thursday, those games could also be in jeopardy depending on the Phillies’ test results.
With Phillies employees working at the visiting club’s headquarters quarantined and unable to unpack the Yankees’ team truck on Sunday night, the Yankees sent several employees of the club’s headquarters from Yankee Stadium to Philadelphia Monday. However, due to an ultra cleaning process, the team was not inside the clubhouse until Monday afternoon.
According to NBC Sports Philadelphia, the Yankees called the Phillies on Sunday to change Monday’s game to Yankee Stadium, but the discussion did not result in a move.
Before the game was postponed, the Yankees had Zoom calls with Aaron Boone, Masahiro Tanaka, and Geritt Cole. They were canceled and the team did not allow anyone to talk about how it felt to follow the Marlins to a clubhouse or their feelings when playing Tuesday night in the same park where Monday’s game was postponed.
JA Happ was scheduled to make his season debut on Monday night and Cole’s start on Tuesday night would be the second of the year. If a game is played on Tuesday, Happ could start it and that would lead Cole to Wednesday night’s game against the Phillies in the Yankees opener. Jordan Montgomery, the opener for the original home opener, could pitch his first game of the year Thursday in The Bronx or Boone could start James Paxton on four normal days off and hit Montgomery. Paxton failed to get out of the second inning against the Nationals on Saturday night in Washington, where the Yankees were battered, 9-2.
Of course, since the Yankees and Phillies are playing two games in the Bronx on Wednesday and Thursday already, they could stage a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium to make up for Monday’s postponement. If Tuesday night’s game is not played, it would not be likely that they would play two consecutive games at the stadium.
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