Another MLB nightmare: All spring training facilities closed due to coronavirus resurgence - NJ.com

As one ugly baseball fight seemingly is close to ending one way or another, the more frightening one that shut down the sport more than three months ago is back for more.

The coronavirus just won’t go away, and this killer pandemic struck again Friday with a vengeance to bring more doubt that there will be a 2020 season.

By night’s end, MLB decided to close all spring training facilities effective immediately, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported.

The facilities, which will undergo a deep cleansing, won’t reopen until health experts deem the coronavirus under control. Also, everyone entering must first go through testing.

The day’s first bombshell was a Friday morning report of positive tests for five Phillies players who have been training at their spring complex in Clearwater, Fla.

Soon after, there were reports that a Houston Astros who had been working out in West Palm Beach, Fla., tested positive and a Toronto Blue Jays player in Dunedin, Fla., showing symptoms.

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Worse news came later in the day that Florida and Arizona – warm-weather states that are the spring home to all 30 MLB teams - were having their worst days for positive tests.

These events led to the Phillies and Blue Jays closing their complexes, then the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning kicking everyone out of their downtown arena, including players who are preparing for the hockey’s return.

All of this led to MLB and the players union calling an emergency meeting for Friday night that resulted in the decision to close all spring facilities. Most, including the Yankees’ spring ballpark in Tampa, have been busy this week with players working out in anticipation of a second spring training starting next week.

The closure decision occurred hours after owners informed the players association that it would not be presenting a new return-to-play proposal. The owners’ last offer was for a 60-game season with full prorated pay and expanded playoffs that will end on Sept. 27, while players countered with a 70-game season that would run into October.

Union members are expected to vote Saturday either to accept 60 games or reject the proposal and thus force commissioner Rob Manfred to follow through with threats to mandate a season that could be as short as 48-to-50 games.

Owners have been unwilling to budge on running the regular season beyond September because disease experts have warned them that a second coronavirus wave could hit in the late fall and wipe out the postseason, which would result in more than $750 million in TV revenue losses.

With all of the spring training facilities closed, clubs probably will opt to use their home regular-season ballparks for baseball’s second spring training, which would last three weeks. The downside to this is that clubs have more fields and mounds at their spring training sites, and there could be at least 60 players participating in the next spring training due to regular-season rosters probably expanding from 26 to about 30 players with 20-to-25 player taxi squads.

Another possible curveball for the Yankees moving their second spring camp to Yankee Stadium and the Mets switching theirs to Queens-based Citi Field is New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatening to quarantine everyone traveling from Florida to New York for two weeks. Florida has had coronavirus spikes this week and on Friday reported 3,822 new cases and 43 deaths.

“I have experts who have advised me to do that,” Cuomo said on Thursday. “I’m considering it.”

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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.

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