Washington Nationals Manager Dave Martinez revealed that two of the team’s 60 players tested positive for the coronavirus during intake testing on Sunday. Martinez made the announcement over a Zoom call with media Sunday and said that neither player who tested positive have been to Nationals Park. The two players, who Martinez did not identify, were found to have COVID-19 during intake testing. Everyone must show negative results before they are allowed to enter the stadium.
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Sean Doolittle, a relief pitcher for the Nationals, has expressed skepticism about the MLB’s ability to begin the baseball season as the coronavirus pandemic makes a resurgence in various states throughout the country. In a Sunday Zoom call with media, Doolittle questioned why he was tested for the virus again earlier in the day when he still had not received the results from his test on Friday. He dismissed the idea that fans could return to ballparks once games resume, which was recently suggested by some owners. “We haven’t done any of the things that other countries have done to bring sports back,” Doolittle said. “Sports are like the reward of a functioning society. And we’re trying to just bring it back, even though we taken none of the steps to flatten the curve.”
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The Nationals have been training at the park for the last couple of days ahead of the start of the 2020 season, with the team expected to host the New York Yankees on July 23. Pitcher Max Scherzer will oppose new Yankee Gerrit Cole, who was a member of the Houston Astros team that the Nationals defeated in the 2019 World Series. The San Francisco Giants are also expected to be in L.A. to take on the Dodgers that same day, with the rest of MLB playing the next day, July 24. First Baseman Ryan Zimmerman and pitcher Joe Ross both recently announced that they would not participate in the shortened season due to health and personal reasons. Major League Baseball is set to officially announce a 60 game schedule Monday, as The Nationals is set to defend its World Series Championship.
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