MILWAUKEE _ The St. Louis Cardinals' traveling party has been instructed to self-isolate in hotel rooms after two players tested positive for COVID-19 and others are going through subsequent exams, sources confirmed to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
As result, the team will not leave the hotel Friday and undergo an additional round of tests, according to a team source. The afternoon game at Miller Park was postponed, the Brewers announced later Friday morning.
The teams and Major League Baseball are in the process of contact tracing to determine what that means for the weekend series. As of now, the teams both plan to play Saturday's game, as scheduled.
Major League Baseball says that the Cardinals have followed the protocols in place, isolated players, and have enough time for additional testing to resume their road trip with only Friday's interruption.
MLB has announced the plan for a doubleheader Sunday.
The Cardinals arrived in Milwaukee on Wednesday evening and had an off day Thursday before planning to play the Brewers in their home opener on Friday. Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported Friday morning that the Cardinals game would be postponed due to multiple positive tests for COVID-19.
The Cardinals' situation is an alarm for Major League Baseball, which was already dealing with an outbreak on the Miami Marlins and the postponements that caused for the Phillies, Yankees and Orioles. The Marlins have not played since Sunday due to more than half of their active roster testing positive for COVID-19 in the past eight days.
The Cardinals are in the process of doing contact tracing in order to determine who else should be concerned.
The Cardinals last played at Target Field on Wednesday night with the Twins. Since then, however, Cleveland has come to Target Field and presumably used the same visitors' clubhouse.
The Cardinals have two people assigned in their offices to conduct contact tracing, and that includes assistant general manager Moises Rodriguez. John Mozeliak, the Cardinals' president of baseball operations, is with the team on the road trip. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For several years, the Cardinals have had some of the protocols in place that are now standard for travel as baseball tries to play a season during a pandemic. Years ago the Cardinals purchased advanced cleaning equipment that they travel with to disinfect the visiting clubhouse at each ballpark as they arrive and before they depart. Mozeliak has often stressed to the support staff that reducing the spread of illness is something that they can control, and he has made a part of the team's practices even before the threat of COVID-19.
