As he pondered how to handle a health crisis facing his baseball team, Ned Yost reached out this past weekend to his mother. Several Royals also contacted their families, all asking some version of a question they had not pondered since childhood: Mom, did I ever have the chickenpox?
The answer became imperative, at the behest of the Royals training staff, as the team dealt with an outbreak as they completed a weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. Royals outfielder Alex Rios and All-Star reliever Kelvin Herrera have both been infected with the virus and could miss at least two weeks of action, team officials told The Star.