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MLB players begin reporting for tests as first workouts near

Baseball players began reporting to their teams Wednesday in the most significant step yet as MLB presses ahead with its plan for a 60-game sprint of a season.

Credit: AP

Second base sits in an otherwise empty ballpark, where grounds crew members continue to keep the Seattle Mariners' field in playing shape as the ballpark goes into its seventh week without baseball played because of the coronavirus outbreak, Monday, May 11, 2020, in Seattle. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press that Major League Baseball owners have given the go-ahead to making a proposal to the players' union that could lead to the coronavirus-delayed season starting around the Fourth of July weekend in ballparks without fans. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Baseball players began reporting to their teams Wednesday in the most significant step yet as MLB presses ahead with its plan for a 60-game sprint of a season.

Most players underwent a battery of health checks, not only for COVID-19 but also for any other lingering ailments from spring training, ahead of planned workouts beginning Friday and Saturday.

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And one thing was clear: Despite rising numbers of positive tests and some players opting out, most players and executives are bullish about the season taking place in just a few weeks.