On Thursday, Major League Baseball officially announced that they were suspending the remainder of spring training and that opening day would be postponed by two weeks.
The official announcement follows a report from ESPN’s Jeff Passan, which said that MLB was seriously considering a halt to spring training.
Passan later followed-up that report with confirmation of the league’s official announcement.
BREAKING: Major League Baseball has officially suspended spring-training games and will delay the start of the regular season by at least two weeks.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 12, 2020
2020 Opening Day to be delayed by at least two weeks; Spring Training Games cancelled beginning today; and @WBCBaseball Qualifier games postponed indefinitely due to the national emergency created by the coronavirus pandemic. pic.twitter.com/yCgUHkdfpF
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) March 12, 2020
“MLB has not had a mass postponement of openers since 1995 when the season was shortened from 162 games to 144 due to a near-eight month strike that nixed the 1994 World Series,” Fox News reports.
On Wednesday, the NBA suspended the remainder of their season after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus. The NCAA also announced that this year’s tournament will be held without fans.
On Thursday, the NHL followed the NBA’s lead and suspended the remainder of their season until plans could be formulated for how to deal with the crisis.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.