Cubs News: Team shuts down Arizona Instructional League because of COVID-19

Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Cubs had a positive COVID-19 test. It was in the Arizona Instructional League, and they did not reveal the player.

To be honest, the Chicago Cubs had it in the Arizona Instructional League, and they didn’t reveal the player who had a positive COVID-19 test. The team was the only one not to have a positive test amongst the entire roster. They had coaches who had it (Tommy Hottovy, Mike Napoli) and staff–but never a player–well, until now.

They played an intrasquad game on Saturday. On Monday and Tuesday, out of caution for the team, they canceled the games. They had one minor-league pitcher quarantined, but he got the go-ahead later that month. Pretty impressive, they had no positive cases of the coronavirus on the MLB team. Still, the COVID-19 is a concern.

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The ‘core four,’ Anthony Rizzo–thank God–Kyle Schwarber, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant will wait. They will be free agents in 2022–maybe sooner. Baez is good to go for now. And to be honest, he’ll likely sign a contract. I don’t know what it is, though. Rizzo, too. He’ll likely retire here. But as I’ve said, I’ve been wrong before.

Now Bryant and Schwarber are what I’m worried about. Bryant slashed .206/.293/.351 with four home runs and 11 RBI. Schwarber hit .188 with 11 home runs and 25 RBI– but fourth-best on the team. But a .188? Ian Happ and Jason Heyward were the best, .265 and .258, respectively. That’s not good, though.

Nobody was solid for the team. A 34-26 record, tops in the NL Central. And the Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds? They made the playoffs–and they were swept out the first weekend. So much for the strongest division. The Brewers had a losing record. C’mon, man.

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The Cubs are at the top–and that wasn’t good enough. And the 13-3 record they started with? Hogwash. Swept by the Miami Marlins. And the Cards? They won one game. Everybody else got swept.

Can we start over from scratch?