PEORIA, Ariz. -- Baseball will continue on the practice fields at Mariners camp, but there will be no games played for at least the next four weeks as Major League Baseball made the decision to cancel the remainder of Cactus League play and delay the start of the regular season in reaction to the coronavirus threat.
With the Seattle area on the forefront of the expanding coronavirus situation, the Mariners already were facing uncertainty over where they’d open the season. Now they’re joined by the other 29 MLB teams as the league put a halt to all games until at least April 9.
For the Mariners, that means the final 12 Cactus League contests and a minimum of 13 regular-season games have been postponed. It’s not clear yet if the regular-season games will be rescheduled.
“Right now we’d like to see a 162-game season,” said Mariners chairman and CEO John Stanton, who indicated owners voted unanimously to delay the season and will continue working with the Players Association and health officials in the coming weeks. “We don’t have the details on the plan, but we think we can run a full season if we start on April 9.”
But Stanton noted the priority now is not on the games, but on public safety.
“We’re all people, and we all love the game of baseball, but this is a far bigger issue for all of us right now,” Stanton said. “We’re trying to work our way through it together. I believe this is going to be something that will have a lot more twists and turns to it. I don’t have a high degree of confidence that we’ll start on April 9, but I have a high degree of confidence that we’ll continue to make good judgments and keep in mind the health and safety of our players, our front office staff, our media and our fans in our decision making.”
When will the season start?
There is no official start date for the season at this time. Opening Day had been scheduled for Thursday, March 26.
MLB will continue to evaluate ongoing events leading up to the start of the season.
How will the schedule change to accommodate the late start?
According to the release sent by MLB, the league and teams have been preparing a variety of contingency plans regarding the 2020 regular-season schedule. MLB will announce the effects on the schedule at an appropriate time and will remain flexible as events warrant, with the hope of resuming normal operations as soon as possible.
What’s going to happen with the rest of Spring Training?
Forthcoming Spring Training games were canceled as of 1 p.m. PT on Thursday, and 2020 World Baseball Classic qualifying games scheduled in Tucson, Ariz., were postponed indefinitely.
What about Minor League Baseball?
Minor League Baseball announced Thursday that the start of the regular season, originally scheduled for April 9, will be delayed indefinitely.
Where will players go?
The Mariners have asked all their players to remain in camp in Peoria and continue working out at the team’s facility. Those workouts will be closed to the public. The situation will be similar to the first 10 days of Spring Training when teams practice before Cactus League games begin, with much of the emphasis on keeping pitchers built up so they’ll be ready whenever the season starts up again now.
“The arm is a funny thing to deal with,” said Mariners pitcher Kendall Graveman. “The hitters won’t have as much issue getting ramped back up, but the pitchers need to kind of stay ready.”
I have tickets to the home opener, what does this mean for me?
Season Ticket Members, Suite Holders and Group Buyers will automatically receive a credit for tickets to unplayed games. The credit will be applied by March 19, and may be used to purchase tickets for any other 2020 regular-season home game.
Single-game ticket holders who purchased tickets directly through the Mariners will be automatically refunded to the credit card, debit card, gift card or other method of payment used to make your purchase. Additional details will be communicated directly to purchasers via email by March 14.
What about tickets to other games?
Same as above.
How might this affect the Mariners once play resumes?
The Mariners were already facing uncertainty over where their first seven games would be played, since Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s ban on large gatherings had them looking into remaining in Arizona or playing home games on the road through at least the end of March. That issue now becomes moot and their schedule could conceivably resume with the next homestand scheduled to start April 9 against the Red Sox at T-Mobile Park. However, much could change before then given the fluid nature of the situation.
What are they saying?
“This is something bigger than all of us, and the important thing is we do the right thing as far as protecting fans and people at the ballpark and all those other things. It’s way bigger than playing a baseball game or a few weeks of games.” -- Mariners manager Scott Servais
“There are so many questions unanswered right now, we’re just going through it step by step. When they make decisions, the Players Association and ownership are working together and trying to figure this out for the betterment of everyone.” -- Graveman
“The most important thing right now is just the safety and health of everyone all across the whole world, not just here.?To be honest, this has been in my head pretty much all the time the past several weeks. The team and organization are talking about how to prevent the sickness, and when you turn on the TV, it’s usually something about the coronavirus, especially in the sports world with all these games and seasons shutting down. So it’s been on my mind a lot.” -- Pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, through interpreter Kevin Ando
“From my point of view, it’s personal. My mom is 96. My friends and family have businesses in Seattle and we’re all trying to figure out what to do. There’s a dynamic when schools shut down that has a ripple effect through the community. My heart goes out to the people living paycheck to paycheck and for who this is an economic catastrophe.” -- Stanton