MLB delays opening day by at least 2 weeks because of virus

While five Grapefruit League games in Florida were being played Thursday, major-league baseball owners were on a conference call deciding what to do about the coronavirus pandemic.

As expected, MLB decided stopping play immediately is the best course of action.

Earlier Thursday, the NHL suspended its season. The NBA shut down Wednesday night.

Following a conference call with all 30 major-league team and after consulting with the Major League Baseball Players Association, commissioner Rob Manfred announced spring training is suspended and the start of the regular season is being delayed by at least two weeks.

"MLB and the clubs have been preparing a variety of contingency plans regarding the 2020 regular season schedule," the league 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.

"Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our players, employees and fans. MLB will continue to undertake the precautions and best practices recommended by public health experts."

The MLB regular season was originally scheduled to start on March 26, with the Cubs playing the Brewers in Milwaukee and the White Sox hosting the Royals at Guaranteed Rate Field.

When the season opens now is up in the air, and there is also the question of how much more training camp major-league teams are going to need to get ready once the green light is given to resume play.

Do players stay in Arizona and Florida and wait to finish up spring training? Does camp move to each team's home city once play resumes?

On his Twitter account, Cubs second baseman Jason Kipnis had plenty of questions.

"Do we go home now?" Kipnis asked. "Stay and train? How/when do we start back up? Have another 2 (week) spring then start where schedule picks up? Do we still get paid? ... (T)his is wild."

Here is another question - once the regular season does start, is there going to be enough time to play a 162-game schedule?

In 1995, the season didn't open until April 26 due to the player's strike that also shortened the '94 season.

The Cubs played 144 regular season games in 1995; the Sox played 145.

According to a report in The Athletic, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is recommending no professional home games in Chicago until May 1.