Due to the second wave of COVID-19 breaking out in Florida and Arizona, Major League Baseball is shutting down all of their Spring Training facilities in both states. Along with the season negotiations, this adds another hurdle to baseball’s return. The New York Mets will have a critical decision to make regarding where their games will take place.
Major League Baseball will close all spring training sites in Arizona and Florida for deep cleaning and will not permit players or staff members until they pass a COVID-19 test.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 20, 2020
While each facility is shut down they will go through deep cleaning and hopefully reopen early next week. This was after the Mets reopened their facility on June 2 for individual workouts. With virus numbers moving in the opposite direction in New York, the Mets might decide to play games in Citi Field instead of the facilities at Clover Park.
Citi Field vs. Clover Park
Brodie Van Wagenen was a fan of using Clover Park as recent as last week. The updated facility is perfect for the Mets to get ready for the season due to their multiple fields and training facilities. For the sake of the player’s health, the best move may come in moving to Citi Field.
If the Mets opt to train at Citi Field their only field will be the stadium along with the hitting tunnels below the field. Due to the expansive parking lots, the Mets could discover a way to use it as another place for players to train. It would likely limit to their Spring Training opponents to the New York Yankees if they decided to play their games in the Bronx.
As numbers continue to spike upwards, a decision for the Mets could come as soon as Saturday.