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Earlier Friday we learned that tonight’s Cubs/Cardinals game had been postponed due to another Cardinals player (beyond the seven who tested positive, as well as six staffers) testing positive for COVID-19.
It seemed likely the entire series in St. Louis would be postponed, though no official word had come from Major League Baseball.
Now, we have information that the entire weekend series between the Cubs and Cardinals in St. Louis will not be played:
Confirmed: Cubs-Cardinals weekend series postponed. Cubs to fly home tonight. Next scheduled to play Tuesday in Cleveland.
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) August 7, 2020
Again, we have yet to have word from MLB on these postponements, but there’s also been this:
MLB has not made it official but I hear the #Cubs #StlCards series this weekend has been postponed.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) August 7, 2020
And this, from Sun-Times Cubs beat writer Russell Dorsey, who drove from Chicago to St. Louis today only to have to head back a few hours later:
CHI ➡️ STL
— Russell Dorsey (@Russ_Dorsey1) August 7, 2020
This tweet never had a chance. Coming back home. https://t.co/3mFgThR0il
— Russell Dorsey (@Russ_Dorsey1) August 7, 2020
I wasn’t expecting to drive through Central Illinois in both directions today, but what can we expect in 2020.
— Russell Dorsey (@Russ_Dorsey1) August 7, 2020
The Cubs are scheduled to fly back to Chicago from St. Louis early this evening. They have a scheduled off day Monday before a two-game series begins in Cleveland Tuesday evening. So far no Cubs players have tested positive for COVID-19 and this long article by Marc Carig and Patrick Mooney in The Athletic talks quite a bit about the team protocols adopted by the Cubs to stay safe, quite a bit stricter than MLB’s.
Before the latest Cardinals outbreak, and after MLB did tighten up its protocols. I had the thought that maybe we’d get through this 60-game season after all. Given this latest postponement — and there’s no guarantee the Cardinals will be able to play their next series against the Pirates — the continuation of this season has to be called into question.
As always, we await developments, and the next one could very well be the end of MLB in 2020.
UPDATE: The Commissioner’s office issued the following statement Friday evening.
The Office of the Commissioner has been informed that a St. Louis Cardinals staff member and two players tested positive from samples collected over the last two days. Out of an abundance of caution, and to ensure that all infected Cardinal players and staff members have been identified, the games between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on Saturday, August 8th and Sunday, August 9th have been postponed. Major League Baseball will continue to provide updates as they become available.