In yet another stumbling block in Major League Baseball’s saga to return to the field this summer, the league has reportedly decided to shut down all 30 Spring Training camps after several positive coronavirus tests were reported.
All Spring Training camps are located in Arizona and Florida, two states which have seen a current increase in the number of positive tests for the disease. While it has not been public which players have tested positive for COVID-19, there are reportedly more than 10 franchises that have been affected.
With MLB and its players’ union in a long-term struggle over compensation and details for the potential 2020 season, the news that a significant number of players have tested positive and that camps will not be allowed to operate for now make it seem even more unlikely that the league will play this season.
Recent proposals from the MLB had been based around a 60-game season and expanded playoffs that would have begun in July and ended at the end of October. However, with camps now closed and no timetable on when they might open, the hopes for that plan going forward now seem slimmer than ever.
Fans must now wait and see if MLB can find a way to resolve its current dilemma or if the league will simply be unable to return until 2021.
