A look at what’s happening around the majors Wednesday:
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ON THE FLY
The Yankees will open a two-game series in Baltimore after their scheduled games this week in Philadelphia were postponed due to the Marlins’ coronavirus outbreak. The switch was announced Tuesday afternoon, and the Yankees had already begun driving their equipment back to New York when they got word that Major League Baseball might instead send them to Baltimore this week.
“We’re drinking out of a fire hose on all this stuff right now,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said.
The Marlins’ season has been suspended through Sunday after the club registered at least 15 players with positive coronavirus tests.
The Phillies, who hosted Miami on Sunday, have ramped up their testing and not found any positive players. Despite that, Philadelphia's season is on pause until at least Friday, when the Phillies are set to host the Blue Jays in what’s technically a “home” game for displaced Toronto.
NOT-QUITE-HOME OPENER
The Blue Jays play their first “home” game of the season in Washington after officially being the visitors in DC for games Monday and Tuesday. Toronto has been displaced because the Canadian government didn’t want players traveling in and out of the country, and the club’s temporary home at Triple-A Buffalo needs more work before it meets major league standards.
“The truth is, there’s no place like home,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “We feel comfortable playing at home, but that’s not going to happen.”
Nationals ace Max Scherzer is set to face Blue Jays right-hander Nate Pearson, making his major league debut. Pearson is considered one of the top pitching prospects in baseball.
BAKED IN
Houston picked up the 2021 option on manager Dusty Baker’s contract Tuesday four games into his Astros tenure. The 71-year-old Baker was hired in January to replace AJ Hinch, who was fired by the team after being suspended by MLB for his role in Houston’s sign-stealing scandal.
“I’ve been a lame-duck manager probably four or five times,” Baker said. “I was one of the lamest ducks walking around. So it feels pretty good not to be a lame duck, and this is the best that I’ve been treated in quite a while.”
MILES AWAY
St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas will have season-ending surgery to repair a tendon in his strained right forearm, creating an opening in the rotation that will be plugged Wednesday by right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon in Minnesota. Over the past two seasons since signing out of the Korean Baseball Organization, Mikolas was 27-18 with a 3.46 ERA over 64 starts. He tied for the NL lead with 18 wins in 2018.
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