More Cardinals have tested positive for COVID-19
By Scott Rogust
The St. Louis Cardinals received more bad news on Sunday afternoon
MLB is currently doing some damage control following the Miami Marlins COVID-19 outbreak over the past week, where 18 players on the roster tested positive. The league received even worse news after discovering that more than a handful of individuals on the St. Louis Cardinals yielded positive test results for the coronavirus.
Things didn’t get any better for the Cardinals organization on Sunday afternoon. According to USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale, the Cardinals have received more positive COVID-19 results after preliminary testing. Nightengale did stress that an exact number likely won’t come until Sunday night.
Either way, this isn’t the news that the commissioner Rob Manfred and baseball fans wanted to hear.
There are more positive COVID-19 tests today from the #STLCards in their preliminary testing but the exact number won’t be known until tonight. They remain quarantined in Milwaukee. Their next scheduled game is Tuesday in Detroit.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 2, 2020
The outbreak in St. Louis’ clubhouse continues to grow
On Friday, reports indicated that two players tested positive, one of whom being pitcher Carlos Martinez. The next day, it was announced that five additional members of the organization also tested positive for COVID-19.
Initially, the league announced that the Cardinals would play a doubleheader on Sunday against the rival Milwaukee Brewers, but after the number of positive tests increased, the weekend series was scrapped altogether.
Manfred spoke with Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB Players Association, on Friday to warn players to take the coronavirus protocols more seriously. If they don’t, the season could be cancelled as early as Monday. ESPN’s Keith Olbermann reported on Saturday that Manfred told television networks to plan alternative programming as early as Monday in the event of cancelled games. But, Manfred told ESPN’s Karl Ravech that he had no plans on shutting down the season because “he’s not a quitter.”
Related Story. Cardinals president upset with pundits theorizing cause of team's COVID-19 outbreak. light
While Manfred might not be a quitter, he certainly can’t seem as confident as he was 24 hours earlier, with a second MLB squad dealing with a potentially massive COVID-19 outbreak. We’ll keep you updated once the exact number of positive tests are revealed later on in the day.