MLB to Suspend Spring Training, Likely Delay Regular Season Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
The Major League Baseball will be the latest sports league to make changes to their schedule due [...]
The Major League Baseball will be the latest sports league to make changes to their schedule due to the coronavirus outbreak. The league and Jeff Passan of ESPN reports the MLB is expected to suspend the final two weeks of spring training. It's also likely the league will delay the start of the regular season, which is scheduled to begin on Thursday, March 26.
Passan also mentioned a player's reaction to the possible suspension, saying Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher David Price walked into the team's facility of Thursday and said MLB needs to do the right thing and delay the season. "It's gotta happen," Price reportedly said. "This is so much bigger than sports. I've got two kids."
This news comes on the heels of the Seattle Mariners announcing they will not play their home games in Seattle because of the coronavirus spreading in the state of Washington.
"Following Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's announcement this morning that he is banning large group events through March, the Seattle Mariners are working with the Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner on alternative plans for our games that were scheduled for the end of March at T-Mobile Park in Seattle," the Mariners said in a statement earlier this week.
"While we hope to be back to playing baseball in Seattle as soon as possible, the health and safety of our community is the most important consideration.
"This is an extremely dangerous event that we are facing, but we are not helpless," Inslee said at a press conference per The Hill. "These are not easy decisions. The decisions that we're making today and the decisions we probably will be making in the upcoming days are going to be profoundly disturbing to a lot of the ways we live our lives today. But I believe they are the right ones."
It's likely MLB will delay the season since other leagues are adjusting their schedules due to the coronavirus outbreak. The NBA recently announced it has suspended the season after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for coronavirus. Also, every college basketball conference canceled their respective tournaments, and as far as the national tournament goes, the games will be played, but fans will not be allowed to attend. The XFL announced the game between the Seattle Dragons and L.A. Wildcats will also be played without fans.