There will be no baseball games played at T-Mobile Park on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The first two games of the Mariners’ three-game series against the Oakland A’s have been postponed due to a member of the A’s traveling party testing positive for COVID-19 while their team was in Houston.
The A’s first sent out a tweet announcing the first two games of the series have been postponed, which read:
“The series between the A’s and Mariners in Seattle has been postponed through Wednesday (Sept. 1 & 2) out of an abundance of caution to allow for continued testing and contact tracing.
On Sunday, the Oakland A’s announced that a member of the organization had tested positive for COVID-19. The team conducted testing and contact tracing for the entire traveling party in line with MLB protocols, and they will continue to self-isolate in Houston with recommended safety precautions in place.”
Major League Baseball followed with a similar announcement:
Out of an abundance of caution and to allow for additional testing and contact tracing to be performed within the Oakland Athletics’ organization, the scheduled games between the A’s and the host Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on Tuesday, September 1st and Wednesday, September 2nd have been postponed. Major League Baseball will continue to provide updates as necessary.
For the Mariners, the postponements follow a road trip that featured a game in San Diego being postpone as a form of protest concerning social justice and systemic racism and three trades that sent five players to various teams, including Taijuan Walker and Austin Nola, who were two of the most popular players on the team. Seattle manager Scott Servais said after the game Monday in Anaheim that he would give his team a full day off Tuesday and then have them return Wednesday afternoon for a workout at T-Mobile Park.
“With this road trip, guys are tired with the back-to-back day games, and all the emotional stuff that has gone on,” Servais said on a postgame video call. “We will not show up tomorrow and we will have a workout later in the day on Wednesday and see what Thursday brings.”
The Mariners will adjust their starting rotation based on if there is going to be a game Thursday.
“I know I will certainly cherish it,” Marco Gonzales said of the off day during a postgame video call. “I can’t speak for the rest of the guys, but I know it’s been an emotional week. But I think we need a day. It’s going to be good.”
As for potential ways to make up the games, the two teams could play a doubleheader on Thursday to make up at least one of the postponements. Their last remaining matchup comes on the final weekend of the 2020 season with a three-game series in Oakland.
The A’s COVID positive test came from a set of samples submitted Friday. They were notified Saturday evening, a few hours after playing a doubleheader against the Astros at Minute Maid Park. Per reports, the traveling party underwent immediate testing Sunday morning and there were no additional positive tests. They took another round of tests Monday morning and are awaiting the results.
This is the first time this season that the Mariners have had a specific game affected by a COVID-19 test.
This will likely allow the Mariners to get infielder Ty France and catcher Luis Torrens through intake testing and possibly onto the active roster. Outfield prospect Taylor Trammell likely will go to the alternate training site in Tacoma once he passes intake clearance. Reliever Andres Munoz is still recovering Tommy John surgery and likely won’t need to report.
The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.