ST. LOUIS — Major League Baseball officially announced the MLB at Field of Dreams game between the Chicago White Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
MLB said it hopes to make the event part of its 2021 regular season schedule next August, featuring the White Sox as one of the participants. In its press release, the MLB did not say if the Cardinals would be the other participant.
“We made every effort to go ahead with a first-class event for the people of Iowa, admirers of the film and fans generally. Unfortunately, we have come to the conclusion that it would not be prudent to ask Clubs to step outside their normal routines, given the evolving public health challenges. We hope to host this event in Iowa in 2021,” Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr. said.
The game would have marked the first major league game ever held in the State of Iowa.
MLB built a temporary ballpark at the Dyersville location, adjacent to the movie site and originally designed to host 8,000 fans in a national broadcast.
The initial plan called for a matchup of the White Sox and the New York Yankees, who were later replaced by the Cardinals when MLB implemented a regionalized schedule due to the pandemic.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Cardinals released the names of six players who tested positive for the coronavirus. The players are: Yadier Molina, Paul DeJong, Edmundo Sosa, Rangel Ravelo, Junior Fernández and Kodi Whitley.
According to a press release from the Cardinals, the above players authorized to have their names publicly released. One player with the virus remains unidentified.
