Add the A’s to MLB’s List of Teams Infected by COVID-19

Halfway through the season sprint, another MLB team has recorded another positive COVID test, bringing the contamination total to five teams.

Today, MLB announced that Sunday’s game between the Oakland A’s and Houston Astros has been postponed due to a member of the A’s organization testing positive for COVID-19.

Oakland released a short statement confirming the case and announcing the team is in quarantine in Houston.

The A’s finished a homestand in California a week ago and have been in Texas since Monday — playing the Rangers then Astros.

As per usual, the infected member of the organization has not been identified.

Oakland is now the fifth team in the league to have a confirmed COVID case. After opening weekend in July, 18 players and two coaches from the Miami Marlins tested positive and sat for eight games.

Shortly after, the St. Louis Cardinals put the MLB season in jeopardy, revealing 18 positive tests and postponing 18 games. Now the Cards only have 34 games to play in 29 days.

Since the St. Louis debacle, the MLB has started to take any indication of COVID spread a bit more seriously. Recently, the Reds and Mets have seen infections. Both teams were able to stop the spread. MLB also suspended Cleveland pitchers, Zach Plesac and Mike Clevinger, for violating the league’s COVID rules.

The news of another MLB infection should not come as a surprise. As long as MLB teams continue to travel around the country, exposing themselves to a virus that is still infecting hundreds of thousands of Americans per week, any team could become the A’s — or the Cardinals, for that matter.

Elsewhere, the bubbled NBA, WNBA and NHL seems to be working so far.

Hopefully, the A’s outbreak — if you could even call it that yet — lasts a matter of days not weeks.