Leaders from all eight Cactus League cities sent a letter to Major League Baseball saying it would be “wise” to delay the start of spring training due to the high COVID-19 infections in Maricopa County, Arizona.
“Given the current state of the Maricopa County pandemic – with one of the country’s highest infection rates – we believe it is wise to delay the start of spring training to make the situation COVID-19 possible here. , “reads the letter, which was first obtained by the television station KPNX in Phoenix. “This position is based on public data from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Statistics and Evaluation, which predicts a sharp decline in infections in Arizona by mid-March.”
The letter was signed by the executive director of the Cactus League, the mayors of Phoenix and Tempe, the mayors of Mesa, Scottsdale, Surprise, Glendale and Peoria, and the president of the Indian community of Salt River Pima-Maricopa.
The Cactus League serves as the spring training ground for 15 teams – the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics , San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers.
Major League Baseball has full authority over the start of spring training, which now officially begins on February 27 in Arizona and Florida, home of the Grapefruit League.