ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Play Ball has returned for the Tampa Bay Rays - albeit with plenty of caution. 

Summer training opens today. 

Almost four months after Spring Training was halted on March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Rays and other major league players are returning to the field. 

After weeks of negotiations, MLB and the players union agreed on a 60-game season set to begin July 23-24. 

The full schedule has not been released yet. 

The Rays will begin testing players for Covid-19 this week. 

On field workouts will begin Friday with 37 players training in small groups at Tropicana Field. Another 23 players will work out at the team's spring headquarters in Port Charlotte. 

Safety will remain the team's top priority, said Rays' Senior VP of Baseball Operations Erik Neander.  

“I think especially in the early going, especially the first week, were going to continue to try to limit the exposure that our players have with one another ,” Neander said. “And cycle through in smaller groups to try and keep the total numbers at any one time more limited. 

We had a walk through (last) Friday morning with staff just to feel out the spaces and everything at the Trop and to start talking through some logistics and there's a lot in play.”