Bay Bridge game between Giants, A’s will move or be canceled amid coronavirus ban.
A’s-Giants exhibition series won’t be held locally; teams’ initial home games up in air
It might be a long wait for fans to see the Giants and A’s make their Bay Area season debuts.
The A’s season-opening homestand at the Coliseum from March 26-April 1 appears very much in doubt after Oakland city officials on Wednesday evening announced they are prohibiting public events of 1,000 or more attendees through March due to the spread of coronavirus in the region.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced earlier in the day a citywide ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people, effective for two weeks. The Giants’ home opener is scheduled for April 3 against the Dodgers, although the large-gathering ban easily could be extended in the days to come.
What is certain is that the A’s-Giants scheduled home-and-home exhibition series on March 23 and 24 will not happen in the Bay Area.
The Giants’ home game in the series, March 24, is listed as canceled according to the schedule on the team’s official website. The game in Oakland on the 23rd falls under the city of Oakland’s ban.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the games won’t be played.
A source told the Bay Area News Group
the Giants and A’s will likely stay in Arizona where they could play the exhibition games originally planned for the Bay Area at their respective spring training stadiums.
“It’s something that everybody would have to deal with. This is a bigger issue than sports,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said Wednesday morning. “We will do whatever we’re asked to do. Understanding that this is a pretty significant time in the world. We have to get on the other side of this somehow. If that’s the way you do it, we would be all for it. People realize there’s more at stake than sporting life right now.”
The Giants acknowledged the San Francisco ban in a statement released shortly after the city’s announcement,
saying they are working with the A’s to determine alternative options:
“The health and safety of our community is of the utmost importance to us. We have been in close coordination with Major League Baseball and our local health and government agencies to monitor and plan for any potential impacts of COVID-19. In light of the City and County San Francisco’s announcement today to prohibit public gatherings of 1,000 people for the next two weeks, we will not play our upcoming March 24th exhibition game against the Oakland A’s at Oracle Park in San Francisco. We have no other large public gatherings scheduled at Oracle Park during this time period. We are in the process of working with Major League Baseball and the A’s to finalize alternative arrangements.
We will make that information available as soon as possible.”
On Wednesday afternoon, the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats announced their exhibition scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 22 in Sacramento against the Giants will be canceled.
Instead of returning to San Francisco before their Opening Day matchup against the Dodgers in Los Angeles on March 26, the Giants are now considering remaining in Arizona until Wednesday, March 24 before traveling to Southern California.
Considering there are still 14 days until the Giants’ and A’s first regularseason games, it’s possible even more drastic measures could be in place by Opening Day as MLB may explore the idea of postponing the start of the regular season.
The situation remains
fluid, but the Giants have already postponed their annual “Play Ball Lunch” benefitting the Junior Giants Foundation while players have adjusted the way they sign autographs and interact with media.
All 30 MLB teams have adjusted their daily routines and taken new precautionary measures due to the spread of the coronavirus. Giants players remain uncertain how their upcoming schedule will be impacted, but believe the league has their best interests and the best interests of the fans in mind.
“For me, you have to trust the higher powers that are making these decisions that are more informed than all of us are,” catcher Buster Posey said. “You just roll with it. You do what you do for the time being and hopefully put your trust in people that are making good decisions for the whole.”
Until the NBA suspended its season indefinitely Wednesday night, the Warriors were set to play tonight’s home game against the Brooklyn Nets in front of an empty Chase Center, Giants players have also considered the possibility of starting the season without fans being admitted into ballparks.
“It would be really weird, of course,” Posey said.
Posey said he believes MLB would prioritize having teams play in alternative locations where fans would be permitted to enter instead of playing in empty ballparks.
“This is my speculation, I don’t see us personally playing in an empty stadium,” Posey said. “We would play those games somewhere else where they would deem it safe for fans to go to games. I just don’t know what it would look like.”