Major League Baseball might use a bubble, after all, in order to prevent the season from being disrupted any further by the coronavirus. The league is considering shifting to a handful of locations for all games in the playoffs, according to reports.

MLB is creating contingency plans to hold the postseason at neutral sites, the Los Angeles Times first reported. The change would happen in October, following a two-month regular season.

Outbreaks within the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals have already resulted in the postponement of dozens of games. Nearly three weeks into the season, St. Louis has only played five games and is highly unlikely to complete its entire 60-game schedule.

The NBA, WNBA and MLS have all avoided positive coronavirus tests since they returned during the pandemic, keeping its players in a single site for the duration of the season. The NHL returned with two “hub” cities in Canada, and no player has tested positive since games resumed.

No final decisions have been made, but the 16-team first round of the postseason could be played at three different ballparks, ESPN reports. The next two playoff rounds might take place at a pair of stadiums in the same city. Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium, for instance, could host games since they are within 32 miles of one another.

The World Series could be held at one or two venues.

The NFL, like MLB, won’t be using one or two sites for its regular season. While teams will be flying to different cities each week for games, the league is creating what it describes as a “virtual football bubble.”

Some teams, such as the New Orleans Saints, are allowing players and staff members to stay at the same hotel. About 150 of 180 members of the Saints’ organization are staying at the Loews New Orleans Hotel, which isn’t hosting any other guests, a team spokesman told The Washington Post.

“We’ve described the team environments as a virtual football bubble, meaning they’re all together obviously under our protocols during the large chunk of their day,” Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, told reporters last week. “When they leave, they’ve still got to adhere to those same principles and make good, responsible choices. And that’s something that we spent a lot of time [on] back on the educational aspects to make sure people understand how important that is.”

The NFL season is scheduled to start on Sept. 10.

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The Minnesota Twins dugout and extended dugout are seen during the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Target Field on July 29, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins defeated the Cardinals 3-0. Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
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