MLB to end regular COVID-19 testing for asymptomatic players

Major League Baseball (MLB) will end regular COVID-19 testing for asymptomatic players, but will retain the option of moving games if area case numbers rise, The Associated Press reported. 

The league and its players’ union, the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), agreed to the latest COVID-19 protocols for the 2022 season on Tuesday, according to the AP.

The protocols say the league intends to “postpone games only if necessary to protect the health and safety of club personnel, players and umpires,” according to the wire service.

Games will not be postponed for competitive reasons as long as teams have a sufficient number of players available to substitute for players who cannot play due to COVID-19, the protocols say, according to the AP. Players placed on teams’ COVID-19 injured lists will not count against their active rosters.

Both sides also agreed that they will avoid rescheduling outdoor games affected by the virus in the opening 30 days of the season as split doubleheaders before April 30.

“MLB has the right during the championship season to relocate club(s) to neutral sites, spring training sites or other clubs’ home ballparks, and/or reschedule games contained in the 2022 championship season schedule, if necessary, for health/safety reasons, to comply with governmental restrictions or to complete the schedule,” the league’s 18-page protocols said.

“With the consent of the MLBPA (which shall not be unreasonably withheld), MLB also has the right to conduct some or all of the 2022 postseason in neutral sites (including other clubs’ home ballparks), or to delay the start of the postseason in order to reschedule championship season games following the completion of the championship season,” they continued.

The MLB follows the National Football League (NFL), which earlier this month announced it would suspend all of its COVID-19 protocols for the upcoming 2022 season. As reasoning for suspending the protocols, the NFL cited the declining spread of the virus and said it was following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recent mask guidance on COVID-19. 

The office of New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said that Yankees and Mets players are subject to the city’s workplace vaccine mandate, meaning that unvaccinated players won’t be allowed to play at home games for either team, according to USA Today.