MLB postpones Cardinals' next series after 13 test positive for COVID-19

In the latest blow to a season quickly turning into a health and logistical quagmire, Major League Baseball on Monday postponed a four-game set between the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers after seven Cardinals players and six staff members tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The Cardinals have not played since July 29, when they lost to the Minnesota Twins at Target Field in their fifth game. Since then, a trickle of positive tests kept the team off the field in Milwaukee and marooned there as the entire team went through multiple – and in some cases, conflicting – tests in an effort to contain the outbreak within the team.

That resulted in the Cardinals’ three-game weekend series at Milwaukee getting postponed, and the club remains quarantined at their hotel there. Now, they will be on ice through Thursday before returning to St. Louis and, they hope, resuming their season with a series against the Chicago Cubs.

"It's hard to think about the future when you're literally just trying to get through the day,'' says John Mozeliak, Cardinals president of baseball operations.

He said of the 13 cases, five are asymptomatic and eight have light symptoms, none requiring hospitalization. 

The consecutive series postponements leaves the Cardinals with seven games to make up, joining the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies with the most contests to play. The Marlins lost a week of their season after 21 players and staff tested positive, with the Phillies also missing seven games because of two positive tests among staff after their team’s series against the Marlins.

“In our particular situation, we made mistakes,’’ Marlins CEO Derek Jeter said, citing breaches in health and safety protocols that may have contributed to positive tests. “I hope people see what happened to us and use that as a warning if you’re not following the protocols 100%. You can’t let your guard down.

"We’re battling something that is invisible.’’

The Marlins and Phillies are stuck on just three games played, while the Cardinals have played just five, almost ensuring those teams won’t come close to completing their 60-game schedules; by Monday night several teams will have already played 11 games. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred indicated Saturday he’d be satisfied to determine playoff spots by winning percentage should an unequal amount of games be played.

In all, 19 games involving nine teams must be made up.