FORT MYERS, FLA. – Hammond Stadium on Thursday was dressed up for a baseball game.
A batting cage covered home plate. Pitcher's mounds in the bullpen were prepped for use. Byron Buxton, working his way back from shoulder surgery, threw a baseball around on the field early in the afternoon.
But there would be no game. The spread of the coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19, is shutting down American sports, and Major League Baseball on Thursday joined the parade, halting play for at least the next month.
The final two weeks of spring training games won't be played, and the start of the regular season will be delayed two weeks.
"We're all trying to do our part to limit the public gatherings and the mass gatherings … so that's been the focus over the last 24 hours," said Derek Falvey, the Twins president of baseball operations. "We're all, on a human level, taking this very seriously.
"I am personally for me, my family and I'm sure just as every one of you are. That's what our players are doing as well. They're thinking about it on that level."
MLB's decision comes after the NBA, NHL and MLS suspended operations. The NCAA canceled the remainder of the winter and spring seasons.
"[We] have been preparing a variety of contingency plans regarding the 2020 regular-season schedule," MLB said in a statement. "MLB will announce the effects on the schedule at an appropriate time and will remain flexible as events warrant, with the hope of resuming normal operations as soon as possible.