A Cincinnati Reds player has tested positive for the COVID-19 viru, as MLB has another challenge to the 2020 season with games canceled tonight and tomorrow.
The Reds were scheduled to play games tonight and Sunday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park., but the games were postponed to allow for additional testing and to complete the contact tracing process. The Reds were informed of the positive test last night, triggering another round of daily testing. And while there have suspicions of COVID-19 infections of Reds players since the season began, the only positive test, from Matt Davidson, was followed by a series of negative tests. The reports, however, are preliminary, and MLB or the Cardinals have not confirmed them.
So we will see how the followup tests go. If positive tests continue, MLB will be yet again facing decisions about the 2020 season. If the Reds need to shut down for an appreciable amount of time, it will upend a schedule among AL and NC Central league teams that has seen plenty of cancellations and doubleheaders added to a revised schedule.
Outbreaks around St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins players forced a reshuffling of the 2020 MLB schedule, with the Marlins successfully returning to action and the St. Louis Cardinals returning to action today with a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox. That reshuffling has led to a pretty brutal schedule for the Cardinals and their opponents. Presumably the Chicago Cubs aren’t happy about the decision to schedule three doubleheaders at Wrigley Field to make up games originally scheduled for last week: the three 7-inning doubleheaders are now scheduled for August 17, August 19 and September 5. The Cardinals and the Pirates will play doubleheaders on August 27 at Busch Stadium and September 18 at PNC Park. And, finally, two-game series between the Cardinals and Minnesota Twins at Busch Stadium, scheduled for September 8 and September 9, will now be played as a doubleheader on Tuesday, September 8, in order to give the Cardinals an off day. Still to be rescheduled: a postponed doubleheader between the Cardinals and Detroit Tigers, originally scheduled for August 13.
RELATED STORIES: More Cards game postponements on the way; Cards-Cubs series postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests; New MLB COVID-19 rules: face coverings in dugouts and more; After more COVID-19 positives, Cards-Tigers series postponed; More Cardinals positive COVID-19 tests threaten series, 2020 season; Another COVID-19 postponement: Cards at Brewers; Phillies-Blue Jays series postponed after COVID-19 positives; Marlins season suspended; MLB scrambles to reschedule; Manfred: Game postponements sign that COVID-19 measures are working; Another COVID-19 cancelation: Yankees/Phillies; Orioles-Marlins game scrapped after COVID-19 outbreak; ESPN touts big numbers for 2020 MLB debut; Fox is virtually ruining baseball, one augmented reality at a time; How MLB will handle a fan-free broadcast