The St. Louis Cardinals‘ series opener against the Chicago White Sox has been postponed to Saturday, giving the Cardinals an extra day to recover from a coronavirus outbreak.
The Cardinals, who haven’t played since July 29, were set to resume their season Friday night in Chicago. But the series opener was pushed back to a straight doubleheader Saturday afternoon, the beginning of an extended stay in the Windy City for the Cards.
A source told ESPN’s Buster Olney that another Cardinals staffer has tested positive for COVID-19 but the team continues to work toward its return to action. The team is considering bringing back Jose Oquendo, a longtime coach for St. Louis, to rejoin the staff and coach third base.
There was no word from Major League Baseball on the postponement, but John Mozeliak, the president of baseball operations for the Cardinals, confirmed the move in a conference call with reporters. Mozeliak also said the team is going to play doubleheaders Monday and Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field after the National League Central rivals saw a series postponed last weekend. The Cardinals will be designated the home team for two of the games at Wrigley.
The Cardinals are considering asking all players to drive rental cars individually to Chicago as a precaution, the source told Olney.
The Cardinals’ season has been derailed by the coronavirus. Star catcher Yadier Molina and infielder Paul DeJong are among the players who have tested positive.
St. Louis, the defending NL Central champion, has played just five games, winning two. It seems unlikely that it will be able to make up every one of its games that have been postponed during the pandemic-delayed season.
While announcing Sunday night that St. Louis’ series against the Pittsburgh Pirates had been postponed, MLB said the league and the Cardinals believed it was “prudent to conduct additional testing while players and staff are quarantined before the team returns to play.”
The Associated Press and ESPN’s Jesse Rogers contributed to this report.