A's, MLB Push Back Season's Start By Two Weeks

The remainder of spring training games are also scratched in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. Details on the restructuring of the schedule have not surfaced.

Major League Baseball has scratched the rest of spring training and has pushed back that start of the 2020 regular season by at least two weeks.

Owners of MLB clubs consulted with the Major League Baseball Players’ Association before Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the changes in baseball’s effort to see to the safety and health of players, workers and the general public in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The A’s were scheduled to start the season at home in the Coliseum on March 26 with a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins. That was to be followed by three games against the Houston Astros before taking to the road for series against the Twins and the Angels.

It was not made immediately clear if those games would be moved to later in the calendar year or if the entire schedule would be pushed back 

The A’s were rained out Wednesday against the Angels and Thursday against the Dodgers, and with the rest of spring training games wiped off the schedule, it’s not clear when the A’s will next take the field, but it won’t be until the end of the second week in April at the earliest.

MLB says it will continue to monitor the situation and left open the possibility that the season could be further delayed, depending on the progress the nation makes or doesn’t make in combating COVID-19.

If the first four series of the season are pushed back or eliminated, there is the chance that the A’s would open the season at home against the New York Yankees.

The current schedule has the Yankees coming to the Coliseum for a three-game series starting April 10.

Talking with the A’s media Thursday morning, manager Bob Melvin said he was watching Wednesday night when the NBA shut down the season for the time being after COVID-19 hit the Utah Jazz roster.

“I think what hit home was what happened last night in the NBA, when clubhouses are now in jeopardy,” Melvin said. “And I think they handled it beautifully.

“Every day this thing gets bigger and bigger. And certainly, sports are not the most important thing at this point in time. But I think in general, any time that you have something this severe, you need to get ahead of it.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued guidelines that called for all gatherings of 250 or more be cancelled or postponed until at least the end of March. The City of Oakland has issued a ban on gatherings of 1,000 or more people at its facilities.

The Coliseum Authority has said it plans to close the doors at the Coliseum and the Arena until April 1.