More complications have arisen in Major League Baseball regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, with several teams having had to delay series against their opponents due to outbreaks of the illness in their clubhouse.
Most notably, the Miami Marlins had 21 members of their traveling party test positive; CEO Derek Jeter believes it was the result of players letting their guard down.
Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals had their series delayed against the Detroit Tigers this week after an outbreak; they later denied the genesis of the outbreak was after a few players visited a casino.
However, don’t expect Tigers pitcher Matthew Boyd to point the finger: “To pass judgment on them is not my place,” he said.
“We can’t control what the Cardinals do,” Boyd said. “We can’t control what the Pirates are going to do, but right now we know what we can do. And we’ll do the best at that and continue down that path.”
As Major League Baseball looks for a way for the two teams to make up their series, manager Ron Gardenhire is hoping they’ll have the opportunity to do so – perhaps on their common days off (Sept. 3 and 10).
“As you get there toward the end, yeah, you could be frustrated with something like that,” Gardenhire said. “But I think we all know we’re ad libbing as best we possibly can, trying to get through the season.
“We’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully, we’re in a situation where we’re close. That is an option, and that would be fun.”
The Tigers are scheduled to resume their season in Pittsburgh against the Pirates beginning Friday night at 7:05 PM EST at PNC Park.
