Major League Baseball is moving forward with its plans for the 2020 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With Opening Day just a month away, even more players are beginning to test positive for COVID-19.
Multiple Minnesota Twins players tested positive for coronavirus
Immediately after MLB announced a 60-game season would begin in July, word broke that Colorado Rockies star Charlie Blackmon and two teammates tested positive for COVID-19. On Thursday, the Minnesota Twins joined a growing list of teams with cases of the coronavirus on their roster.
According to The Athletic’s Dan Hayes, the Twins have already been informed that multiple players tested positive for COVID-19. Fortunately, the unidentified players weren’t training at their stadium in Minnesota or their spring complex in Fort Myers.
The team still has a week until players report for spring training and the 2020 season won’t start until late July, but the new cases represent an increasing problem for MLB.
Positive COVID-19 tests among MLB players
The Philadelphia Phillies announced last week that five of their players tested positive for the coronavirus. Since that reveal, two more players and two staffers also tested positive. Meanwhile, more cases started popping up across baseball.
- One Detroit Tigers player and a staff member contracted the virus.
- Multiple players and staff for the Toronto Blue Jays tested positive for COVID-19.
- The Seattle Mariners have had “more than one” player test positive.
- The Boston Red Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks each had a player get the coronavirus.
- One player for the Miami Marlins tested positive.
MLB’s plan for return will have each team playing in their own city, creating an even greater risk that one clubhouse could experience an outbreak that sidelines a significant portion of the team.
There remains optimism across baseball for the 2020 MLB season. If things don’t improve, MLB might have to abandon its plans quickly.