The St. Louis Cardinals are the second MLB team to be hit with a coronavirus outbreak since the 2020 season began last month, and there have been rumors that the positive tests came at some point after several players went to a casino. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak can neither confirm nor deny that.
Mozeliak spoke with the media shortly after it was announced that 13 members of the Cardinals organization (7 players and 6 staff members) have tested positive for COVID-19. He was asked about Jon Heyman’s report that at least a couple of St. Louis players went to a casino recently, which is one of the reasons MLB has begun strongly discouraging players from leaving their team hotels. Mozeliak said he is unsure if the report is true but that it would be “disappointing” if it is.
Cardinals GM John Mozeliak on the reports that Cardinals players went to a casino before their COVID-19 outbreak: “I have no factual reason to believe that is true, and I have not seen any proof of that. If they were at a casino, though, that would be disappointing.”
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 3, 2020
Fortunately, none of the 13 who tested positive for the coronavirus are experiencing serious symptoms. Mozeliak said five of the 13 are asymptomatic and the other eight have had mild symptoms.
The Miami Marlins are the other team that has had an outbreak, and CEO Derek Jeter faced similar questions on Monday about where his players were prior to contracting the coronavirus.
