The Boston Red Sox are the latest team to ban 'Fortnite'

The defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox have struggled early this season, but it's apparently not because they're distracted by Fortnite.

Several players, including pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, told WEEI's Rob Bradford that the game is completely absent from the team's clubhouse in 2019. "I haven’t seen it this year," Eovaldi, told WEEI. "Usually everybody had it set up in their lockers. But I haven’t seen it."

Bradford reports that the team decided that players were losing their focus on the field:

According to multiple players, it was decided by the team that the time used playing the game in the clubhouse had gotten to a point where it was becoming counterproductive to putting their best foot forward on the field.

The revelation is a surprise considering the game was a constant presence during the 2018 season. Starting pitcher David Price loved it so much it was rumored to have contributed to a carpal tunnel injury he dealt with. (He denied this report.)

Price also claimed to have played the game with Eovaldi the night before he pitched the World Series-clinching Game 5 victory.

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And, bringing things full circle, Price used an off-season Twitch session during a game of Fortnite to tease Eovaldi about re-signing with the Red Sox; Eovaldi did indeed return to the Red Sox but there's no word whether Price's Fortnite skills helped.

The Red Sox aren't the only sports team to deal with the popularity of Fortnite in the team clubhouse. During the final week of the 2018 season, Philadelphia Phillies player Carlos Santana got so fed up with teammates being distracted by playing the game that he smashed a television with a bat.

Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers, like the Red Sox, reportedly banned Fortnite from the clubhouse for 2019 and the Toronto Blue Jays implemented restrictions on playing video games for its players. And, over in the NHL, the NHL's Vancouver Canucks apparently banned the game for the 2018-2019 season after a mediocre performance the previous season.

So, for now, at least a small group of people have figured out how to temporarily slow Fortnite steady, methodical takeover of the sports world.