Cubs News: Cardinals have the weekend series canceled by COVID-19

The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals are canceled this weekend because two Cards players tested positive for COVID-19.

The Chicago Cubs were affected by the coronavirus. Not directly, though. The St. Louis Cardinals did that. That’s 10 in a row by COVID-19 (All three games are canceled, including a national broadcast on ESPN on Sunday.) The coronavirus afflicted two players and a member of the coaching staff. They were supposed to start a stretch of 55 games in 52 days. Now? Who knows.

Cardinals outfielder Austin Dean and reliever Ryan Helsley tested positive for the virus. The Cards manager, Mike Shildt, made a note not to have too much to do with the Cubs (a moot point, by the way.)

"“We probably won’t hardly interact at all.” h/t Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch"

Cubs president of operations Theo Epstein echoed the fact that he agreed with the decision, keeping player safety in mind. Of the Cardinals, 13 came from the traveling party; seven players were involved.

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"“Based on the information MLB has shared with us, postponing this series is a necessary step to protect the health and safety of the Cardinals and the Cubs.”"

Cardinals president of operations John Mozeliak and Shildt wondered how it was happening. First, Mozeliak and Shildt wondered if was someone asymptomatic that came in contact with them.

"I don’t know what our future looks like at this point. All I know is we’ve lost these three games and we’ll take this day by day."

Jim Guzior wrote a post about a supposed casino trip. Mozeliak didn’t believe that was the case–but I don’t know. Pretty suspicious, if you ask me.

The Cards and the Miami Marlins (they returned to play last weekend) have been the two most significant concerns for MLB. The Cards won’t play for at least the weekend–if not more. Florida, especially Miami, has been a hotbed of coronavirus activity. But so far, the Marlins have been unaffected by it–for now.

So what now? The Cards are the only ones not playing because of COVID-19. They began their ‘light’ workouts as they arrived at Busch Stadium, with four added from the alternate-site roster.  But I don’t know when they’ll play ball–if at all.