The San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants will resume their seasons on Sunday after being parked for two days while Major League Baseball conducted an investigation into a Giants player's positive COVID-19 test. The league announced on Sunday morning that the Giants and Padres will play a doubleheader, and that the MLB-MLBPA Joint Committee has determined that the positive test did not "represent an actual infection or present a risk to other personnel."
Here's the explanation, as part of the league's press release:
The MLB-MLBPA Joint Committee, in conjunction with each team's medical staff, reviews all positive COVID-19 tests on an individual basis to determine how each case should be handled in order to ensure the health and safety of the players and Club personnel. Following a careful review of all of the details presented in the particular case regarding a San Francisco Giants player that led to the postponements of their road games in San Diego on Friday and Saturday, the committee has determined that the presumptive positive did not represent an actual infection or present a risk to other personnel.
The first game of Sunday's doubleheader will begin at 4:10 p.m. ET. The two sides could, ostensibly, make up the other postponed game as part of their season-ending three-game set in San Francisco. That series is scheduled to take place from Sept. 25-27, with the 2020 playoffs then beginning on Sept. 29.
The Padres and Giants are both in playoff contention as of Sunday morning. San Diego, with its 29-17 record, is all but certain to make the tournament. The Giants, meanwhile, are holding onto the seventh seed in the National League with a 23-22 mark. San Francisco entered the day with a two-game lead over the Colorado Rockies and the Milwaukee Brewers.
Under the expanded postseason format, every first- and second-place team makes the playoffs. In addition, so do the two next best teams, no matter their division or their standing within.
