Earlier this week, it was reported that Joe Biden had turned down an offer to throw the first pitch at the Nationals Opening Day game on Thursday. Now, it turns out, there won’t be a first, second, or any other number of pitches thrown on Thursday because the game has been postponed due to Covid issues.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN that the games on Thursday and Friday were to be scrapped.
According to ESPN:
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo had said Wednesday that his club would be down five players and a staff member for Opening Day after a player tested positive for COVID-19.
There are concerns about at least one more positive COVID-19 test with the Nationals following the positive Wednesday, sources tell ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The next game scheduled between the two teams is for Saturday at 4:05 p.m. ET.
According to the report, the positive test stemmed from a Covid test administered on Monday while the team was in Florida. The close contact with the infected player occurred on the team’s plane ride back to D.C.
“Per MLB’s health and safety protocols for 2021, the player who tested positive will be required to isolate for a minimum of 10 days, receive appropriate care and monitoring from the club medical staff, and be cleared by baseball’s joint COVID-19 committee and the individual’s team physician following a mandatory cardiac evaluation and a determination that the individual no longer presents a risk of infection to others,” ESPN reports.
The Nationals have declined to name the six players involved.
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