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A's vs. Astros Postponed After Member of A's Tests Positive for COVID-19
August 30, 2020
A member of the Oakland Athletics organization has tested positive for COVID-19, causing Sunday's game against the Houston Astros to be postponed:
Jon Heyman of MLB Network added that it was a player who tested positive, making it the first time a player in the American League or the West divisions contracted the coronavirus.
The Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals were forced to postpone multiple series due to outbreaks of COVID-19, while the New York Mets postponed four games due to two positive tests.
As Joel Sherman of the New York Post noted, Saturday was the first time since July 26 that all teams played on the same day without postponements.
The shortened 60-game season has limited travel for each team, facing only opponents within the division and the complementary division in the opposite league. This has kept squads mostly within the same geographic range.
With zero positive tests until now, those in the West divisions had avoided long-term stoppages that had been an issue in the East and Central divisions.
It slows down two teams that had been playing well so far in 2020 between the Athletics (22-12) and Astros (19-14). Both squads currently have more than a 98 percent chance of making the playoffs, per Fangraphs.
