OAKLAND -- Major League Baseball has postponed Monday’s three-game series opener between the A’s and Twins at the Coliseum to allow for further testing and contact tracing for COVID-19 involving members of the Twins organization.

The Twins learned that a member of their traveling party tested positive for the COVID-19 virus on Friday night following their game against the Angels in Anaheim. Minnesota’s scheduled games for Saturday and Sunday were postponed on Saturday morning, with Twins manager Rocco Baldelli later revealing during his session with reporters that day that two additional players had also tested positive.

A traditional doubleheader between the A’s and Twins is tentatively scheduled for 3:30 p.m. PT on Tuesday at the Coliseum, pending continued test results.

The postponement of the series was not due to any new positive cases from within the Twins organization. 

“The decision on that was not reflective of any new positives or any new information. That was just the evaluation of what we think is best over the next couple of days, and we will hopefully continue to get good news around some negative tests among our players,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said during a radio appearance on "Inside Twins" on Sunday. 

Falvey said the Twins hope to learn by Monday if the series can be played in Oakland. The decision will be based on test results the organization receives on Sunday and Monday. Twins players are still in Anaheim and were tested in their team hotel on Sunday morning. 

Falvey added that the testing has shown that the organization is dealing with a variant strain of COVID-19, adding some uncertainty to the timeline of when the team can move forward.  

“It does create a little bit more uncertainty about going forward and how long it takes for someone who may have been infected to turn positive,” he said. “So there's a lot of things we're working with our medical staff to determine.” 

The A’s were scheduled to start left-hander Jesús Luzardo on Monday, followed by left-hander Sean Manaea and right-hander Frankie Montas over the final two games of the series against Minnesota. Manager Bob Melvin was unsure of how the postponement might affect those pitching plans.

“I don’t know yet,” Melvin said before Sunday’s game against the Tigers. “We’ll take a look at the scenarios. This is all just coming my way.”

The A’s announced that all single-game ticket buyers holding tickets for Monday’s game will receive an automatic refund. A’s FlexTix holders will receive replacement vouchers to their accounts that can be used on tickets for another A’s home game.