The Florida COVID-19 sports news continues to roll in. Following news Friday that five Philadelphia Phillies players and three staffers and three Tampa Bay Lightning players and two staffers had tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, leading to those teams shutting down their Florida training facilities, the Toronto Blue Jays have closed their own TD Ballpark facility in Dunedin, Florida. As ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported, that’s over a player with COVID-19 symptoms, and one who’d recently spent time with players in the Phillies’ organization:
The Blue Jays player exhibiting the symptoms is a pitcher on the 40-man roster who recently had spent time with players in the Phillies’ minor leagues system, according to sources. He has been tested for COVID-19 and is awaiting results.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 19, 2020
Multiple players working out at the Blue Jays facility said they had not yet been tested. If the player is not an isolated case, testing will ramp up. “We are being overly precautious with testing,” Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins told ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 19, 2020
While the Blue Jays’ situation doesn’t have as many positive tests as the Phillies’ one at the moment, it’s worth keeping in mind that they haven’t conducted as many tests yet. It’s also notable that the Jays have discussed playing regular-season games at TD Ballpark this year if it’s not possible for them to play in Canada when a proposed MLB season starts (that season, of course, still has its own hurdles to overcome). That ballpark underwent significant renovations this past offseason, and has seen more ahead of this plan, including installing the necessary lighting to bring that park up to MLB standards. Shutting down the associated training facility could carry implications there as well.
We’ll see what comes next with the Blue Jays. But COVID-19 symptoms from a player there are notable, and that will add to the challenges ahead for MLB in trying to start play.
[Jeff Passan on Twitter; TD Ballpark photo via Dunedin Blue Jays on YouTube]
