MLB Addressing Delays in COVID-19 Testing Results Caused by Holiday Weekend

MLB issued a statement after a handful of teams experienced problems receiving the necessary equipment to perform COVID-19 testing and obtaining results as a result of the holiday weekend. 

The league acknowledged the delay and said the situation should be resolved Monday, per The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya:

The Athletic's Alex Coffey reported Sunday that Oakland Athletics general manager David Forst was "livid" over the delays. The tests were expected to arrive at MLB's Salt Lake City-based lab early Monday morning, which jeopardized the team's ability to work out on the same day.

ESPN's Jeff Passan reported the Washington Nationals were canceling their Monday workouts because they had not receieved results from Friday tests.

Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle provided some context on Sunday:

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic also reported that COVID-19 testers didn't arrive at the Los Angeles Angels' training facilities by Sunday, so the team was delaying its Monday workout by three hours. Rosenthal added that two other teams experienced a similar problem.

The delays underscore the logistical hurdles posed by staging an MLB season amid an ongoing worldwide pandemic.

Under MLB's health and safety protocol, players and coaches have multiple daily temperature checks and get tested every other day. That requires a lot of effort from the league in terms of getting the tests to all 30 teams and turning around the results in an expedient manner.

As Passan wrote, "Baseball's return will only be as successful as its testing protocol."