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Cardinals dealing with 13 positive coronavirus tests, including 7 from players

The St. Louis Cardinals are dealing with 13 positive coronavirus tests, MLB announced Monday.

Reports emerged Sunday that more Cardinals players had tested positive for the coronavirus. The team issued a statement late Sunday saying it was still waiting on test results.

Those results — which came in Monday — showed 13 members of the organization tested positive for coronavirus, including 7 players and 6 staff members. Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said Monday that 8 of the 13 members who tested positive are experiencing symptoms.

The Cardinals will remain quarantined in Milwaukee while players continue to receive daily tests. The league canceled the Cardinals’ series against the Detroit Tigers, but plans for the Cardinals to resume playing Friday against the Chicago Cubs. Mozeliak said the Cardinals are hoping to leave Milwaukee on Wednesday to head back to St. Louis.

Cardinals’ first positives occurred after Wednesday tests

The Cardinals announced Friday that two players on the team tested positive for coronavirus. In that announcement, the team said the positives came from tests taken Wednesday morning. The Cardinals played the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday. No Twins have tested positive for COVID-19.

Upon learning of the positive tests, the Cardinals decided to isolate in Milwaukee, where the team was set to play the Brewers on Friday. MLB canceled that series after learning four other members of the Cardinals tested positive for coronavirus Saturday.

When the team did not get results back early Sunday, it announced players would remain in Milwaukee. They’ll remain in the city for a few more days. If the team doesn’t experience more positive tests, the Cardinals will play the Cubs in St. Louis on Friday.

Cardinals are second MLB team to experience an outbreak

With the news, the Cardinals are the second team to experience an outbreak during the 2020 season. The Miami Marlins have not played since July 24 after more than half the team tested positive for coronavirus. Four Marlins players initially tested positive July 24, but the team still took the field to play the Philadelphia Phillies that day. The Marlins experienced more positive tests in the days following that game.

The Phillies have also canceled games over playing the Marlins and then over staffers’ positive tests by staffers. They are due to resume their season Monday against the Yankees.

MLB must decide whether to keep playing

A second outbreak puts more pressure on MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to determine whether the season should continue. When the Marlins outbreak occurred, Manfred said it was not a “nightmare” scenario, and that he wouldn’t cancel the season unless a team was “completely non-competitive” as a result of coronavirus.

Manfred seemed to hint he was getting closer to that point Friday, when a report leaked that Manfred told MLBPA leader Tony Clark the season could be canceled as early as Monday if positive tests continue to pop up. Manfred immediately walked that back Saturday, saying “we are playing,” and that he is “not a quitter.”

MLB’s statement Monday indicates the league will continue playing despite another series getting postponed due to the coronavirus.

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