MLB should wrap up baseball season by October, Dr. Fauci tells LA Times

 (CNN) — Baseball season should not extend past October to avoid the risk of spreading coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci says.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said Major League Baseball should conclude the postseason in September.

“If the question is time, I would try to keep it in the core summer months and end it not with the way we play the World Series, until the end of October when it’s cold,” Fauci said.

MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association, the player’s union, are still negotiating a shortened baseball season. Both sides remain at odds over health protocols and the length of the season.

Fauci explained that even with the current warm weather, there’s been an increase in the number of new coronavirus cases as states continue to reopen, but said “the chances of there being less of an issue in the end of July and all of August and September are much, much better than if you go into October.”

“This virus is one that keeps fooling us. Under most circumstances — but we don’t know for sure here — viruses do better when the weather starts to get colder and people start spending more time inside, as opposed to outside,” Fauci told the LA Times. “The community has a greater chance of getting infected.”

Fauci said he misses watching his hometown team, the World Series champion Washington Nationals.

But he told the LA Times he would go to a game in the stadium if there is limited capacity, spaced out seating and everyone is required to wear a mask — and if the infection rate in Washington D.C. declines further.