The St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers were supposed to play on Friday, but the game has been postponed after two Cardinals players tested positive for the coronavirus. It’s the 15th MLB game that has been postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests just one week into the 2020 season, according to CBS Sports. Both teams are set to play on Saturday and will play a doubleheader on Sunday.
“The St. Louis Cardinals learned late last night that two players have tested positive for COVID-19 in testing that was conducted on Wednesday, July 29 prior to their game against the Twins in Minneapolis, and have instructed the team’s players and staff to self-isolate in their Milwaukee hotel rooms until further notice,” the team said in a statement. It went on to say the Cardinals did not leave their total on Friday morning for Miller Park in Milwaukee. The Cardinals are currently going through rapid testing and will continue to self-isolate.
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The Brewers were set to have their home opener on Friday. Outfielder Ryan Braun told MLB.com: “We would love to be playing today, but we think the most important thing is completing the season, so it certainly feels like the most prudent decision to not play today. We don’t know what that means for the rest of this weekend yet, but as we’ve done from the beginning, we can only continue to take it day to day and see how things play out.”
This is not a good sign for MLB as it comes days after the Marlins announced at least 15 players tested positive for COVID-19, which led to the postponement of multiple games. Earlier this week, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred spoke about the positive tests on the MLB Network and said the season will move forward.
“We built protocols anticipating that we would have positive tests at some point during the season,” Manfred. “The protocols were built to allow us to play through those positives. We believe the protocols are adequate to keep our players safe.” Each team is scheduled to play 60 games this year with the season-ending by Sept. 27. And with only 60 games, the playoffs have been expanded to 16 teams. When the pandemic began in March, MLB suspended spring training and the start of the season was pushed back for four months.
