Angels’ Trout has doubt about playing
In a pandemic-shortened season there is no room for the Midsummer Classic.
Major League Baseball announced Friday that the 2020 All-Star Game originally scheduled to be played on Tuesday, July 14 at Dodgers Stadium has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The last time MLB didn't play an All-Star Game was in 1945 due to travel restrictions because of World War II.
To make up for the loss of this year's game, MLB will award the 2022 All-Star Game to the Dodgers.
“Once it became clear we were unable to hold this year's All-Star festivities, we wanted to award the Dodgers with the next available All-Star Game, which is 2022,” MLB commish Rob Manfred said in a statement.
The last time the Dodgers hosted the Midsummer Classic was in 1980. The 2021 game will be hosted by the Braves as Truist Park.
Dodger Stadium — thirdoldest in baseball behind Fenway and Chicago's Wrigley Field — is the only park in the majors not to have increased its 56,000-seat capacity since it opened in 1962.
No date for the 2022 game has been announced, although Dodgers President Stan Kasten said it would take place in the third week of July.
Mike Trout joined the Angels for their first group workout Friday, doing drills and rarely taking his mask off. Then he told media that he's still uncertain about whether to play baseball this year.
Trout's wife is pregnant and due in August. The three-time MVP would be the biggest name to opt out of the MLB or NBA restarts, by far.
“Honestly, I still don't feel comfortable with the baby coming,” Trout said Friday. “I don't want to test positive and bring it back to my wife. I've thought hard about this, and I'm still thinking about this.”
My mindset is to play. I want to play. It's just a tough situation… There are a lot of questions I don't have the answer to.”
Trout was not the only player in baseball to voice his concerns Friday. At the first day of Mets workouts, catcher Wilson Ramos said “It's hard right now to be here.”
Rays pitcher Charlie Morton echoed the dilemma most Americans are in right now as their state and federal governments have abandoned them. “I don't feel entirely comfortable with the idea of doing this,‘' Morton said. “I don't know how long we're supposed to sit in our homes and wait to make a decision about our careers.”
But Trout was the one who sounded like he was most serious about sitting out the season. “I think the biggest thing is, these next few weeks, if I test positive, it's my first child, and I have to be there,” Trout said. “If
I'm positive, doctors have told me I can't see the baby for 14 days. Jess won't see the baby for 14 days if she tests positive. We're going to be upset.”
In the light of what Trout said, Angels manager Joe Maddon has taken some heat for his comments about who should and shouldn't play this year. “Everyone is talking about the high-risk individuals opting out. To me, the person who should opt out is the person who does not want to follow the protocols,” Maddon said. “That's not been reported enough, I don't think. If you, in your heart of hearts, don't believe you can do all this stuff, then you're the person who should opt out. It's not so much the potential high-risk candidates.”
But Maddon also praised Trout. “He needs to stay well because he is going to be around” his wife and child, Maddon said. “There's a lot to think about…The young guy that is mature enough to think beyond that is an impressive young man. You don't know what sacrifice means until you have your own child.” And Trout echoed Maddon's comments about “tightening up the bubble.”
“I don't get why you can leave the hotel room on the road to get dinner at a restaurant,‘' the outfielder said. “I'm strongly against that. It's 30 games on the road. Just stay in your hotel room and just do as much as you can inside the hotel, so you don't get out and get the virus… One guy can go out and not wear a mask and contract this virus and bring it into the clubhouse.”