By Bill Shaikin and Jorge Castillo
Los Angeles Times
There was no compelling reason to wait any longer. Major League Baseball suspended all spring training in Arizona and Florida and delayed the start of the regular season by at least two weeks Thursday in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The decision was all but inevitable, and it capped a turbulent 24-hour period for the four major North American sports currently in season. The NBA suspended its season Wednesday night, and Major League Soccer, the NHL and MLB followed in order Thursday.
MLB had hoped to buy time. The regular season in the other three sports was well underway, but MLB Opening Day was scheduled for March 26. The league considered relocating some games as an alternative to postponing them all, but the prospect of widespread government intervention made that approach untenable.
“This action is being taken in the interests of the safety and well-being of our players, Clubs and our millions of loyal fans,” MLB said in a statement. “As of 1 p.m. PDT today, forthcoming Spring Training games have been canceled, and 2020 World Baseball Classic Qualifier games in Tucson, Arizona have been postponed indefinitely.
“MLB and the Clubs have been preparing a variety of contingency plans regarding the 2020 regular season schedule. MLB will announce the effects on the schedule at an appropriate time and will remain flexible as events warrant, with the hope of resuming normal operations as soon as possible.”
On Wednesday, authorities in California and Washington either recommended against large gatherings or banned them outright, at least for the next few weeks, putting home games of the Dodgers, Angels, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners in limbo.
The Mariners, Giants and A’s already had said they were working on “alternative” plans for playing the games, presumably elsewhere.
But public health experts told The Times the limited availability of coronavirus tests means it would be folly to assume the virus had not spread into any given area in the country, even one with few reported cases.
Dr. Dena Grayson, a Florida-based expert in Ebola and other pandemic threats, said the current virus is “highly contagious” and said its spread is in its “acceleration phase.”
“The worst thing you can do is to have a bunch of large gatherings,” Grayson said. “Large gatherings are basically a cauldron for this virus.”
On Thursday morning, the wife of Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle pleaded with fans not to attend spring training games.
“I’m probably not supposed to say this, but people I beg of you,” Eireann Dolan wrote on Twitter, “please do not come to games right now. I know they’re still inexplicably playing them right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe to attend. You’re putting yourselves, the staffs, and teams at risk. Please don’t go.”
The NBA postponed its season indefinitely Wednesday night, immediately after learning one of its players, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz, had tested positive for coronavirus.
“We’d be naive to think that one player across every MLB camp doesn’t have it yet,” Washington pitcher Max Scherzer told reporters Thursday morning at the Nationals’ camp in Florida.
Within hours of Scherzer’s comment, the issue hit home for MLB. Gobert’s teammate, Donovan Mitchell, had tested positive for the virus as well.
Mitchell’s father, the New York Mets’ director of player relations and community engagement, was in attendance last week when the Jazz played the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. According to the New York Post, Mitchell’s father rejoined the Mets at their Florida training camp the next day and has remained at work there since then.
In the announcement of what the NHL called a “pause” in its season, Commissioner Gary Bettman noted that many of its teams share arenas with NBA teams.
“It now seems likely that some member of the NHL community would test positive at some point —it is no longer appropriate to try to continue to play games at this time,” Bettman said.
Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux, speaking before the MLB announcement, said the NBA shutdown was unexpected.
“Anytime you shut down the whole league like that, I think it’s a surprise,” Lux said, “but at the end of the day, health is a huge concern for everybody. And, like I said, it’s not just athletes. It’s everybody and the whole world.”
A shortened season would not be without precedent. In 1995, after players ended their labor strike April 2, owners agreed to an abbreviated spring training and a delayed start to the regular season.
The season, shortened to 144 games rather than the usual 162, started April 25.
“Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our players, employees and fans,” the MLB statement said. “MLB will continue to undertake the precautions and best practices recommended by public health experts. We send our best wishes to all individuals and communities that have been impacted by coronavirus.”
