A’s, Astros postponed due to positive COVID-19 test

The Oakland A’s have had a positive COVID-19 test for a member of their organization, it was announced today. As a result, the team’s scheduled game today against the Houston Astros has been postponed.

The A’s are in Houston currently, and will self-isolate there while they do contact testing and additional testing. Oakland was set to start a three game series in Seattle on Tuesday, and then play the San Diego Padres in Oakland starting on Friday. Based on what MLB has done with positive tests since the Miami Marlins fiasco, I would expect the A’s game with Seattle on Tuesday to be postponed. If there are no more positive tests, the A’s could play a doubleheader on either Wednesday or Thursday in Seattle to make up Tuesday’s game.

The Rangers play the Astros in Houston starting on Tuesday. If there are no positive tests among the Astros, I would expect that series to move forward as planned, though MLB could err on the side of caution and postpone Tuesday’s game. However, given what we know about COVID-19 transmission and how transmission due to limited interactions in outdoor settings appears to be quite rare, the risk of a member of the Astros organization having contracted COVID-19 from someone on the A’s, by virtue of the two teams playing each other, would appear to be quite low.