MLB announces final results from initial set of intake screening

On Friday morning, Major League Baseball announced its’ final round of test results from its’ initial round of Intake Screening which was to be finished prior to today’s commencement of workouts and full baseball activities.

Per the MLB’s news release, the number of positives recorded through the end of Thursday, July 9, has risen to 66. There have been a total of 3,748 tests administered, which is good for a 1.8% positivity rate. Among those 66, 58 are players while the other eight are staff members. As of now, 27 of the league’s 30 teams have at least one positive within their club.

The plan from here on is for players to be tested every other day through the rest of the season. After many clubs canceled workouts earlier this week due to the delay of test results, players and staff have understandably grown quite skeptical of how things are truly going to play out during the resumption of play.

Most recently, San Francisco’s Buster Posey has announced he will opt out of the 2020 season due to health risks combined with the decision him and his wife have made regarding the adoption of two identical twin girls who were both born prematurely. Posey has been spending a lot of time in the NICU which has already caused him to miss workouts up to this point.

Even with some better-than-expected news coming from the latest round of test results, there will certainly be more players who decide to opt out of the upcoming season. As of now, we are still waiting to see if any player from the Padres will decide to do so.