Citing the global coronavirus pandemic, MLB released a statement Thursday announcing that Opening Day, originally slated for March 26, has been delayed by “at least two weeks.”
Here’s part of the release:
MORE: Every sports event canceled because of coronavirus
MLB will continue to evaluate ongoing events leading up to the start of the season. Guidance related to daily operations and workouts will be relayed to Clubs in the coming days. As of 4:00 p.m. (ET) today, forthcoming Spring Training games have been cancelled, and 2020 World Baseball Classic Qualifier games in Tucson, Arizona have been postponed indefinitely.
The news comes after teams were scheduled to play normal spring training games today. But after 4 p.m. ET, no further spring training games will take place until the league restarts business. MLB doesn’t have an exact time or date when that will be, though.
As of now, the plan for MLB is to offer another short spring-training-like period for players to stretch out and get ready for the season again, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
Some players chimed in on the postponement of Opening Day, as well as the coronavirus:
