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Several Blue Jays, staff test positive

The Blue Jays closed their training facility last Friday in Dunedin after a player showed symptoms consistent with the virus.
 
A sign outside TD Ballpark tells fans the spring training baseball games have been suspended March 13 in Dunedin because of the coronavirus outbreak.
A sign outside TD Ballpark tells fans the spring training baseball games have been suspended March 13 in Dunedin because of the coronavirus outbreak. [ CARLOS OSORIO | Associated Press ]
Published June 24, 2020

Several players and staff members of the Toronto Blue Jays have tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Blue Jays closed their training facility last Friday in Dunedin after a player showed symptoms consistent with the virus.

Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred imposed a 60-game season Tuesday night after failed negotiations between owners and players. The season that’s been delayed by the pandemic will begin either July 23 or 24.

Many players around the majors have been working in recent weeks at either their home ballparks or their team’s spring training complexes in Florida or Arizona. MLB closed all camp sites last Friday because of virus concerns.

It remains unclear where the Blue Jays plan to hold their training camp and play home games this summer. The Canadian government is open to Major League Baseball playing in Toronto this summer, but the league has not submitted the required plan to health authorities.

Meanwhile in Seattle, Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said a few players have tested positive for COVID-19.

Dipoto declined to specify the number of players or if they are part of Seattle’s 40-man roster. Dipoto said they have all been asymptomatic.

“With the cases popping up, especially in some of the hot spots around the country, we have had a few players test positive,” Dipoto said. “Right now they’re asymptomatic, they feel great, but we are aware that they’re positive.”

The Mariners expect players to begin arriving this weekend in Seattle for workouts leading into the start of the season in late July. Some players had been working out at the team’s spring training facility in Peoria, Arizona, but Dipoto did not specify where the players that had the positive tests were located.

“Obviously, they will not be in the environment when we open up until we’ve determined either A) they are part of the roster group, or B) they’re healthy enough to be a part of that,” Dipoto said.