Phillies-Blue Jays weekend set postponed

The Blue Jays' 2020 schedule was hit with another change on Thursday as their weekend series against the Phillies has been postponed.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the Philadelphia Phillies’ three-game weekend series with the Toronto Blue Jays, scheduled for Saturday, August 1st and Sunday, August 2nd at Citizens Bank Park, has been postponed,” Major League Baseball announced in a statement. “Major League Baseball will coordinate with health experts and the Major League Baseball Players Association in planning for the Phillies’ resumption of play, and will provide further scheduling updates as necessary.”

Earlier Thursday, the Phillies announced that a member of their coaching staff and a member of their home clubhouse staff tested positive for COVID-19. The three-game series was scheduled to feature a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon, before the finale on Sunday.

The Phillies said in a statement on Friday that no further positive tests had been recorded, but that Citizens Bank Park remains closed for now.

The Blue Jays received the news just prior to Thursday’s game in Washington, and manager Charlie Montoyo said that he was trying to keep his players’ focus on what they can control.

“We’re going to keep playing and we’re going to be ready to play until they say we can’t play,” Montoyo said. “Right now, we’re thinking about the next step. The next step [today] is playing a game here at 4.”

The Blue Jays have now had their schedule changed three times in this unusual season. First, some adjustments were needed when the Blue Jays landed on Buffalo’s Sahlen Field as their home stadium for 2020. As the club works to renovate the stadium to bring it up to MLB standards and meet league health protocols, its “home opener” was shifted to the road in Washington. This weekend’s series against the Phillies was initially scheduled to begin Friday, but had recently been shifted to start with a Saturday doubleheader, which will no longer take place.

Prior to the postponement, the Blue Jays had planned to bus to Philadelphia after their final game against the Nationals. Instead, the Blue Jays are staying in Washington following Thursday’s 6-4 loss to the Nationals. They will take Friday off, hold workouts at Nationals Park over the weekend, then fly to Atlanta on Sunday night. The current plan, according to Montoyo, is that the Nationals will work out at their stadium earlier in the day, and the Blue Jays will work out separately later in the day.