Major League Baseball's season just past the halfway mark, and more than 40 games have been postponed due to positive coronavirus cases. Five teams have had at least one player or staff member test positive during the season, and both the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals have dealt with team-wide outbreaks.
As of Tuesday, 43 different MLB games impacting a total of 16 teams had been postponed due to COVID-19 cases. Here is the full list of postponed games and their original dates:
- Marlins-Orioles four-game home-and-home series (July 27-30)
- Yankees-Phillies four-game home-and-home series (July 27-30)
- Marlins-Nationals three-game series (July 31-Aug. 2)
- Phillies-Blue Jays three-game series (July 31-Aug. 2)
- Brewers-Cardinals three-game series (July 31-Aug. 2)
- Cardinals-Tigers four-game series (Aug. 3-6)
- Cardinals-Cubs three-game series (Aug. 7-9)
- Cardinals-Pirates three-game series (Aug. 10-12)
- Cardinals-Tigers doubleheader (Aug. 13)
- Cardinals-White Sox series opener (Aug. 14)
- Reds-Pirates games (Aug. 15-16)
- Reds-Royals series opener (Aug. 18)
- Mets-Marlins game (Aug. 19)
- Mets-Yankees three-game series (Aug. 20-22)
- A's-Astros series finale (Aug. 30)
- A's-Mariners three-game series (Sept. 1-3)
- Giants-Padres games (Sept. 11-12)
"The health and safety protocols were designed with a challenging circumstance like the one facing the Marlins in mind," MLB said in a statement in July. "The response outlined in the joint MLB-MLBPA Operations Manual was triggered immediately upon learning of the cluster of positive cases, including contact tracing and the quarantining and testing of all of the identified close contacts. The Marlins' personnel who tested positive remain in isolation and are receiving care."
MLB is attempting to make up all postponed games later in the season via doubleheaders and eliminating off days. Teams finished with an unequal number of games around the 1981 strike -- some teams played as many as 111 games that season while others played as few as 103 -- and the standings were based on winning percentage. In these adverse times, a similar strategy would be warranted this year.
COVID-19 carries up to a 14-day incubation period (the time from exposure to development of symptoms) with a median of five days.
Commissioner Rob Manfred said Aug. 1 there was "no reason to quit" the 2020 MLB season and noted the league would move forward.
