Coronavirus concerns will likely push Opening Day out of Seattle. Here are the Mariners’ options
The Seattle Mariners are still scheduled to play baseball on Opening Day — it probably just won’t be in Seattle.
Mariners chairman John Stanton outlined alternative options for the club’s seven-game opening homestand to reporters Wednesday at the club’s spring training complex in Peoria following the announcement that gatherings of 250 or more people are banned in three counties in the Puget Sound area until the end of March due to coronavirus concerns.
Governor Jay Inslee made the announcement Wednesday morning. The ban includes Snohomish, King and Pierce counties, the latter of which house the stadiums of both the Mariners and their Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma.
“As you can imagine, a lot of this is happening real time, so we’re trying to figure it out as we go,” Stanton said.
Stanton said the Mariners hope to have a plan in place by Friday, and gave three options for how the Mariners can complete the seven-game stretch currently in question, which is set to begin March 26 with a four-game series against the Rangers followed immediately by a three-game series against the Twins:
▪ The Mariners could extend their stay in Arizona and play at one of the spring training stadiums. Stanton said this seems like the “least disruptive” option of the three.
▪ The Mariners could play in the home park of their opponents. This appears to be the preferred option of MLB.
▪ The Mariners could return to Seattle and play in an empty stadium. This seems the least likely of the three options because opposing teams could raise concerns about traveling to the city which would likely be honored, and ultimately, the clubs would prefer to have fans present.
“If we play in Seattle without the fans, we’re going to have a gathering of about 175 people we figure,” Stanton said. “Teams from both organizations, and to the extent that there are concerns about gathering of 250, they’re not banned, but gatherings of 175 people are also serious.
“If you think in terms of that safety first mantra, and particularly with respect to our staff and our players, we want to make sure we’re safe. I’m not suggesting it’s unsafe to be in Seattle, but I believe it’s safer for us to be someplace other than the place that has the largest number of fatalities from coronavirus. ... This thing has moved at a scary pace, and the virus is obviously a great concern for all of us.”
Nonetheless, Stanton said the club is considering all three options.
“There are pluses and minuses associated with each of them,” he said.
Several parties have input on what happens next, Stanton said, including the Diamondbacks because spring training is held in their backyard, the Padres, because they share a spring facility with the Mariners, the Rangers and Twins, the players association and of course MLB.
“We have to do everything we can to ensure safety and be responsible,” Stanton said. “We don’t have perfect information. We rely on experts, we rely on government officials who in turn rely on healthcare experts to make decisions with respect to whether or not we can play safely in our ballpark.”
There is a possibility this ban extends beyond the March 31 deadline currently set, meaning the Mariners could have to adjust for their second planned homestand, which is scheduled to begin April 9 against the Red Sox.
Stanton said the club is planning for the immediate future, and will take each day and series one at a time.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It’s one of these things we can’t control. Obviously we’ve got to do what’s right for our home city, and certainly understand what’s going on and the severity of it. ... Unfortunately right now I don’t think anybody knows exactly what’s going to happen.”
Meanwhile, Seattle continues to prepare for its season, with less than two weeks of spring training games remaining.
“We’re kind of isolated down here,” Servais said. “You get caught up in the daily grind of going through spring training and sometimes you lose sight of what’s going on outside your camp or even down here in Phoenix.
“Guys are going along, getting prepared for the season like they would at any point. If the season gets delayed or something crazy happens, we’ll adjust. It’s what you have to do. Eventually we will play the entirety of the season, I’m sure.”
Players continue to get into regular season shape, and get at-bats and innings in while they await a decision, Servais said.
Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager said the team continues to stay informed about the virus through meetings and reports, and it has become a daily topic of conversation in the clubhouse.
“It’s scary stuff,” he said. “It’s definitely something that is very concerning and it’s definitely something we need to be taking notice of.”
Neither Seager nor starting pitcher Kendall Graveman, who were made available to talk to the media about the changes, specifically stated which of the options moving forward seemed to appeal most to players.
“I think the preference is obviously we would love to be opening up at T-Mobile in front of a packed house,” Seager said. “I think that’s obviously what we as players would like. Getting to have your own fans and have that energy is certainly a big deal.”
But, as that is not happening, he said players would just like to know what decision is made as soon as possible.
“It’s definitely strange not knowing where we’re going to be necessarily,” Seager said. “But, that’s not our job. Our job is to get ready to play baseball games. That’s kind of what we’re doing, and eventually they’ll tell us where to go.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 6:31 PM.
