The return of baseball comes with a unique arrangement of teams holding preseason training - dubbed "Summer Camp" - at their home ballparks. But with that comes a need to practice extra precaution due to COVID-19.
The Cubs have 39 players training at Wrigley Field, a smaller facility than their Mesa, Ariz. complex. Not only will they stagger workouts to limit the number of players at the park at once, but they've rearranged the facility in the name of social distancing.
Cubs president Theo Epstein told reporters Thursday the club has spread out clubhouse lockers "by significant distance." They're using both the home and road clubhouses during Summer Camp and have even reconfigured other rooms by adding lockers.
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The club has also moved weight and meeting rooms outdoors "because I think all the public health officials have consensus on the fact that being outdoors is a lot safer than being indoors," Epstein said.
Epstein declined to discuss the results of the Cubs' coronavirus intake testing process, which is still ongoing. Going forward, they will continue making adjustments to Wrigley as needed.
"We're going to continue to make adjustments as we go," Epstein said. "I think we've been setting up the park based on the protocols and based on an understanding of in our mind how this is gonna operate.
"So, we'll experience it for the first time [Friday] and I'm sure we'll make a lot of adjustments on the fly as theory becomes reality and we start to see what it's like to conduct a spring training of sorts with these new protocols in place."
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How Cubs are reconfiguring Wrigley Field to satisfy health, safety needs originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
