Athletics Postpone Entire Series in Seattle, Face Four Doubleheaders in Final Month
The Oakland Athletics, who learned Tuesday morning that their latest round of COVID-19 testing uncovered no new positive results, have postponed the entire three-game series in Seattle for this week.
The first two games Tuesday and Wednesday had already been postponed, and there had been thought that Thursday’s game could be a doubleheader if health concerns allowed. Citing an abundance of caution, however, the A’s and Major League Baseball scratched Thursday’s game as well to allow for continued testing and contact tracing.
Two of the lost games will be replayed in Seattle’s T-Mobile Park as a Sept. 14 stand-alone doubleheader in between A’s road games in Texas on Sept. 13 and in Colorado on Sept. 15.
The third game will be added to the Sept. 26 Oakland-Seattle game at the Coliseum, giving the two teams a doubleheader on the next-to-last day of the season.
The A’s will next play on Friday at the Coliseum against the San Diego Padres. When they do, it will be their first game in six days, since losing both ends of a Saturday doubleheader in Houston. Before that, they’d been off Thursday and Friday as the A’s, then the Astros, declined to play games in protest over the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisc.
Then came late Saturday night’s word that one member of the A’s traveling party had tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus. The Sunday game in Houston was postponed and the A’s went into self-isolation at their hotel in Houston, where they remained through Tuesday morning.
The makeup of the postponed game against the Rangers will be Saturday, Sept. 12, the middle day of what was originally scheduled to be a three-game series.
The lost game Sunday in Houston has yet to be rescheduled. Houston visits Oakland for four games Sept. 7-10, and it’s likely that a doubleheader will be played one of those days.
That gives the A’s four doubleheaders in 19 days, which will put some strain on the starting rotation, one reason the A’s made a deal just before Monday’s trade deadline to acquire left-handed starter Mike Minor.
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Inside the Athletics on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.