The St. Louis Cardinals are dealing with several players testing positive for COVID-19, and one of them is a future Hall of Famer. Cardinals catcher and nine-time All-Star Yadier Molina went to social media to reveal he recently tested positive for the coronavirus. The Cardinals confirmed Molina testing positive as well as Paul DeJong, Edmundo Sosa, Rangel Ravelo, Junior Fernandez and Kodi Whitley.
“Good morning, I am saddened to have tested positive for COVID-19, even after following the prevention recommendations,” Molina wrote on Instagram, which was also shared by the Cardinals. “I’ll do everything in my power to get back ASAP for Cardinals fans, St. Louis City and my teammates. As I recover, I request that you respect my family’s privacy during my absence from the team. Blessings!!” A total of 13 members of the Cardinals traveling parting, seven players and six staff members, have tested positive. The members who tested positive are currently in St. Louis while the rest of the team is in Milwaukee. For the players to return to St. Louis, they need two rounds of negative tests to be cleared to travel.
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Due to the outbreak, Major League Baseball has postponed seven of the Cardinals’ games. This situation means they will have 52 days to play 55 games if they want to complete the 60-game season. Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said they would review their coronavirus protocols, but he also mentioned playing in a pandemic is not easy, to begin with.
“It’s almost impossible to say that we can build a dome around ourselves and move from city to city, move from our home to the ballpark,” he said via MLB.com. “The point is anything can happen. We tried to put things in place that would prevent this from happening, but it just shows you how challenging that is.”
The Cardinals are waiting for the seven players who tested positive for COVID-19 to be cleared to play, especially Molina, who is the captain of the team. Molina has been with the Cardinals since 2004 and helped the team win World Series Championships in 2006 and 2011. Along with being a nine-time All-Star, Molina is a nine-time Gold Glove Winner. He also won the Silver Slugger Award in 2013 after batting .319 with 12 home runs and 80 RBIs.
