Skip to content

Cardinals' Miller: It's not a 'slam dunk' that season will be played

Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images Sport / Getty

St. Louis Cardinals reliever Andrew Miller is at camp and ready to play baseball - if the season can get off the ground.

Miller, a member of the MLBPA's executive player subcommittee, expressed some skepticism about whether the league will be able to return this year. Cases of COVID-19 have spiked rapidly around the United States and throughout the baseball world in recent weeks, casting a shadow over MLB's attempts to begin a shortened campaign.

"I think there's still some doubt that we're going to have a season now," Miller said, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We're here, but I'm from Florida - I read my local every day and I think we're over 10,000 cases again. By no means is this a slam dunk. We're trying. We're going to give it our best effort. But for me to sit here and say 100%, I think, would be a lie."

During the months-long stoppage, Miller publicly stressed the importance of implementing proper health and safety protocols for players. It wasn't until those protocols were agreed to by both owners and players that a season was officially announced.

But things haven't gone as smoothly as some may have hoped. Even before camps officially opened, cases of COVID-19 began to rise across the sport, hitting nearly every team. Testing also hasn't gone smoothly; Washington Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle revealed Sunday that he's yet to receive his test results from Friday. Some of the sport's most prominent players have either chosen to opt out for safety reasons or are considering doing so.

Those who remain in camps must adhere to social distancing protocols if they want to play. Miller was doing his part by wearing a mask at Cardinals camp Sunday, explaining that he doesn't "want to be the one that brings down a season."

"If guys don't take this seriously, I don't know if this is going to work," he added. "There's (also) going to be a little bit of luck."

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox