The Mets had both their Thursday night game against the Miami Marlins and Friday game versus the New York Yankees postponed after two members of the Mets organization tested positive for the coronavirus, Major League Baseball confirmed.
In a statement issued early Thursday evening, MLB said the two games were postponed “out of an abundance of caution” and so additional testing and contract tracing can begin.
According to published reports, a Mets player and a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. As of this writing, their identities were not confirmed.
In a statement, the Mets said the team will fly back to New York on Thursday night to conduct tests, while the two members who tested positive, along with those who were in close contact to those two members, will remain in Miami.
The Mets were slated to play the Marlins in Miami shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday before returning home for a weekend series against the Yankees.
It’s unclear at this time if the rest of the Subway Series will be postponed.
The Mets are scheduled to play the Marlins and Yankees again next week, at Citi Field and Yankee Stadium respectively. It’s unclear if the Marlins game will be made up at Citi Field as part of a doubleheader.
This is the first time a New York sports team’s games have been postponed due to one of its own players or staff members testing positive for COVID-19. Several Yankees’ games, including their original home opener, were postponed about a month ago amid fears of a coronavirus outbreak among players and staff for one of their scheduled their opponents, the Philadelphia Phillies, who had played the Miami Marlins the same day Marlins players tested positive.
Marlins games were postponed for over a week in late July and early August after more than 15 members of their organization — mostly players — tested positive for the virus during the opening weekend of the season.
Miami — and Florida overall — has been a coronavirus hotspot over the past few months, but it’s unclear how and where the Mets contracted the virus. Before landing in Miami for the series that began Monday, the Amazins’ played in Philadelphia from Friday to Sunday, and clashed with the Washington Nationals in Queens last week.
The Mets are the fifth MLB team — joining the Marlins, Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, and Cincinnati Reds — to have positive coronavirus tests in their organizations during the season. The length of a team’s postponements has varied so far. The Cardinals’ season was put on hold for a little over two weeks, while the Reds missed only three games before they resumed play Wednesday.
If the Mets continue to have positive coronavirus tests, they are essentially assured to have more games postponed.
New York could sign free agents or call up players from the team’s alternate training site in Brooklyn to replace any players who test positive and go into quarantine.
MLB has not confirmed whether there is a point of no return that would lead to the cancellation of the rest of the season if positive tests persist. But as of now, there have been no confirmed team-to-team transmissions of the virus.
Mets’ outfielder Yoenis Céspedes and starting pitcher Marcus Stroman opted out of the rest of the 2020 season earlier this month, expressing concerns over the pandemic. Stroman also cited fears over going to Florida for the Marlins series.
MLB has a COVID-19-related injured list that can include players who test positive or are exposed to the virus.
Relievers Brad Brach and Jared Hughes missed time earlier this season due to their own positive COVID-19 tests.
The Mets won their first three games against the Marlins in Miami this week, moving their record to 12-14. Thursday's game was scheduled to be the final game of a four-game series.