Cardinals, Brewers double header canceled as Redbirds deal with cases of COVID-19
Following the announcement on Friday that two St. Louis Cardinals players tested positive for COVID-19 in Minnesota on Wednesday, the team leaned on established protocols and optimism in postponing Friday’s scheduled game and drafting a Sunday doubleheader.
That optimism was found unwarranted on Saturday, as one additional player and one staff member tested positive for the novel coronavirus, as detected Friday in rapid response testing and confirmed by results from the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory in Salt Lake City, the facility contracted by MLB for regular COVID-19 testing.
One additional player and three additional staff members currently have inconclusive test results, Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak said. All four individuals who were confirmed to have tested positive since the team’s arrival in Milwaukee on Wednesday night have been asymptomatic.
None of the four individuals who have tested positive have consented to their identities being revealed, as is their right under the return to play agreement reached by the MLB and MLBPA.
Saturday’s game in Milwaukee was postponed, as was Sunday’s scheduled doubleheader. The Cardinals were set to play two, two-game series against the Detroit Tigers this week, with two games at Detroit’s Comerica Park and two at Busch Stadium. Those games are now set to be played entirely in Detroit over a three day stretch, from Tuesday through Thursday, with a seven-inning double header set for Wednesday. The Cardinals will be designated the home team in two of the four games.
“The thinking was that we’re flying there, and it just didn’t make sense to just then fly back and be on a plane again,” Mozeliak explained. “We’re just trying to minimize the ‘togetherness’ in these tight quarters as best we can.”
In pushing back against what he called “(creating) this blame game,” Mozeliak referred to attempts to source the initial introduction of the virus to the team environment as “sickening and annoying.”
“We’re in a pandemic,” he emphasized. “The likelihood of where someone could have gotten this could be anywhere from a grocery store to a bar, and everywhere in between. But trying to determine that I don’t think is very helpful.”
A Cardinals player reached via text message on Saturday expressed concerns about the ability of the team to compete after spending a stretch which could be as long as 72 hours isolated in place in their hotel rooms.
Those concerns were part of the driving force behind the decision to push Monday’s scheduled game back to Wednesday. The team plans to travel to Detroit on Monday morning, assuming there are no further setbacks in test results, and work out at Comerica Park that day before being thrust back into a competitive setting.
Those who have tested positive in Milwaukee are not required to stay in Wisconsin. Mozeliak said that two of the four individuals with confirmed positive tests have already returned to their homes via car, and the other two would likely follow in short order.
The team also still plans to bring players from its alternate training site in Springfield, MO to join them in Detroit. Those players will supplement a roster which suddenly features four vacant spots, though to date, no positions of players who have been affected have been revealed by the club.
In comments to ESPN’s Karl Ravech on Saturday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said, “We are playing. The players need to be better, but I am not a quitter in general and there is no reason to quit now. We have had to be fluid, but it is manageable.”
Manfred’s conviction stands in contrast to the actions of players, two of whom opted out of the 2020 season on Saturday morning. Miami infielder Isan Díaz, whose team was caught in the midst of an outbreak earlier this week, and Milwaukee outfielder Lorenzo Cain, whose team was set to face the now-stricken Cardinals, each decided to cease their participation in the face of their respective proximities to a viral outbreak.
The Cardinals have had only one player opt out of the 2020 season. Reliever Jordan Hicks, who suffers from Type-1 Diabetes and was recovering from Tommy John Surgery, opted out before the season began. The Cardinals later said that Hicks was unlikely to contribute on the field this season. As a player with a pre-existing condition, Hicks will receive full pro-rated pay and Major League service time.
Mozeliak shared Manfred’s optimism for continuing the season, saying that he was “hopeful that this is something that we can manage through.”
“Did we think there were gonna be some speed bumps along the way? Of course,” he conceded. “Just getting camps going was difficult.
“These things can happen. Whether it’s a normal job or a baseball job, there’s always some risk when you’re working under the umbrella of a pandemic. And so I would just ask that our fan base be patient, and hopefully we get back on that field.”
This story was originally published August 1, 2020 at 9:40 AM.
