KC Royals News: Spring Training, Opening Day impacted by Coronavirus
KC Royals news is about how Spring Training has been suspended and Opening Day has been delayed due to the Coronavirus.
COVID-19, also known as coronavirus, has officially been declared a global pandemic. As a result, sports leagues are being suspended and college sports have been canceled. The NBA was the first to put things on hold after Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for coronavirus.
It was only a matter of time before Major League Baseball opted to speak out on this and announce their decision, which is to suspend spring training. COVID-19 will also lead Major League Baseball to delay the regular season, which was initially slated to begin on March 26th.
The Kansas City Royals were scheduled to open their 2020 campaign against the White Sox in Chicago. As of Wednesday, Chicago had a total of 25 Coronavirus cases and that number is likely expected to climb. It’s also been announced that pro teams in Chicago will play all of their home games without fans until at least May 1st.
BREAKING: Major League Baseball has officially suspended spring-training games and will delay the start of the regular season by at least two weeks.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 12, 2020
At this point, people can be mad about sports getting put on the back burner, but this is the best decision right now, as we’re not fully sure what to expect with this virus. MLB can take a few weeks off and assess the situation before making another decision.
The Royals’ Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium was set to take place on April 2nd, but with Mayor Quinton Lucas declaring a state of emergency in Kansas City – forbidding large gatherings of 1,000 people – that probably wouldn’t be taking place even without the beginning of the season getting delayed.
CHECK OUT WHAT’S TRENDING IN KC ROYALS NEWS FROM AROUND FanSided
- How 2020 Royals can get to 71 wins [Cody Rickman, KC Kingdom]
- Risers and fallers in 2020 top prospect rankings [Jordan Foote, Kings of Kauffman]
- Jesse Hahn struggling in spring training [KC Kingdom]
HERE’S WHAT’S TRENDING IN KC ROYALS NEWS FROM AROUND THE REST OF THE WEB
- MLB suspends spring training, start of Royals season delayed at least two weeks [Lynn Worthy, Kansas City Star]
- FAQ: How coronavirus impacts Royals, MLB [Jeffrey Flanagan, MLB.com]
- MLB to suspend spring training, regular season delayed by two weeks [Max Rieper, Royals Review]
"The Royals home opener is scheduled for April 2, 21 days from now. The city has had no confirmed cases, but three more cases were confirmed in suburban Johnson County in Kansas today, bringing the total cases there to four."
This is a difficult situation, but hopefully things improve and we can go back to playing baseball in the coming weeks.
It’s going to be weird without Royals spring training games, but right now, this is absolutely the right call. Hopefully things will clear up and baseball can resume in the coming weeks. If things could improve drastically in the two week window MLB is looking at, that’s the best case scenario here.