Major League Baseball joined the rest of the sports world Thursday, canceling the remainder of spring training and delaying the start of the regular season by at least two weeks because of the spread of coronavirus.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, the league said the action was "being taken in the interests of the safety and well-being of our players, clubs and our millions of loyal fans." The league will continue to evaluate ongoing events leading up to the start of the season, but for now, the remainder of spring training games have been canceled and World Baseball Classic qualifiers have been postponed indefinitely.