It does seem like Major League Baseball has its COVID-19 protocols down pat about five weeks into the truncated 2020 season.
Earlier this year, the likes of the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals each missed more than a week of action after an outbreak of the virus within their organizations.
When it was noted this past Sunday that the Oakland Athletics had at least one confirmed case of COVID-19 within their traveling party, the concern was that the American League West’s best team would also be sidelined for an extended period of time. That now doesn’t seem to be the case.
Oakland A’s should resume play Thursday after entire team tests negative for COVID-19
This is no small thing in that Oakland still has to play 26 games over the final 24 days of the regular season. That means at least two doubleheaders without an off day. Boasting a 2.5 game lead over the Houston Astros in the division, this puts the team in a less-than-enviable position.
A lot of teams will be dealing with logistical nightmares over the final three-plus weeks of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We can now add a top-end World Series contender to the list.
The question now is whether MLB will decide to play its postseason and the World Series in a bubble. An outbreak of COVID-19 during the playoffs could stop the season on a dime. Given that we’ve now seen about 17% of the teams around MLB impacted by the virus, that point is magnified even more.
As for the A’s, they will head into the stretch run with some reinforcements after adding former All-Stars Mike Minor and Tommy La Stella to the mix ahead of Monday’s trade deadline.