A’s postpone first two games of Mariners series due to positive COVID test

The A’s announced their first two games of the Mariners series, slated for Tuesday and Wednesday, have been postponed “out of an abundance of caution to allow for continued testing and contact tracing,” per a release from the team.

The team postponed Sunday’s finale vs. the Astros after a member of the traveling party tested positive for COVID. Since then, there have been no additional positive tests announced publicly. Monday was an off-day for the squad, which now has three makeup games slated for September. The A’s and Rangers are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Sept. 12 after the A’s decided not to take the field on Thursday in an effort to bring more attention to racism following the Jacob Blake shooting.

So that means the A’s have 26 games to play in 26 days, assuming they return to the field on Thursday. With three off-days left and the built in makeup day on Sept. 28, technically they can make it happen. But to me, it looks like it’s getting dicey now logistically across baseball. How are you going to fit in all these missing games with just one extra off-day when teams are zig-zagging around the country? Would be nice if they were, like, all in Arizona and/or Florida or something.

I know it’s not an outbreak. It’s a single positive test. How much longer does MLB go on with this, though? How many people need to get infected on how many teams before they shut it all down? I halfway believe that Rob Manfred would be OK if 28 teams got wiped out by the virus, so long as the Dodgers and Yankees stay healthy and can meet in the World Series. But, seriously, we hope the person in the A’s party — and anyone at all with COVID for that matter — is recovering and makes it through OK. Of course, this isn’t the first positive test for the team, as Jesús Luzardo has bounced back from his positive diagnosis in July with no apparent setbacks. 

I understand players need to make a living, too, but this whole thing feels uncomfortable. It feels like MLB is playing with fire at this point and that player safety is not the top priority — and hasn’t been since the season started. I selfishly would love see the season play out and the A’s make a postseason run, because I love baseball. But I’d rather see this season cut short than someone eventually die because we needed to get our sports fix.