Juan Soto’s positive test forces hard questions about playing baseball during a pandemic

In 2020, the diversion becomes a grim reminder. Anticipation melted into dread Thursday afternoon at about 2:30 p.m., when Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo looked into a camera for a Zoom news conference, pulled on a navy mask and fiddled with the World Series ring on his right ring finger. Rizzo announced Soto had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. He would be placed on the injury list created for those who contract the coronavirus.

“That’s the major news of the day for the Nats,” Rizzo said, glumly.

“I woke up this morning excited we were going to have baseball again,” Nationals Manager Dave Martinez said. “It is Opening Day. And then I get the news he tested positive. It hurts. It didn’t have to be Juan Soto. It could have been any of our guys. And then reality sets in: We’re in the midst of a pandemic.”

The shock of Soto’s positive test may dissolve in the coming days. As The Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty reported, Soto took multiple instant-result tests — both saliva and nasal — and the tests all came back negative. Soto passed three such tests between late morning and first pitch, one person familiar with the situation said. Nationals medical staff conducted the tests, and Soto must still be cleared to play by MLB after a lab confirms he has twice tested negative. But the in-house test offered a measure of potential relief.

Until Soto’s status is settled, questions ripple in every direction. Is Soto okay? Is it possible he infected other teammates — or that he contracted the virus from a teammate? Should the Yankees be concerned? Should the opener have been played? What happens now?

Are we really going to do this?

“It was a really harsh reminder of just how tenuous this situation is, trying to play a baseball season during a pandemic,” Nationals closer Sean Doolittle said. “How many cases did we have in the country?”

Four million, Doolittle was told.

“Yeah, we just passed that today. It feels like we’ve done a good job these past three weeks of controlling the things we can control, to use a baseball analogy here. But we were really surprised because we have been really good about taking this seriously. Guys have bought in because they want this to work. It was really shocking.”

In the 48 hours before Opening Day, baseball cracked open a window of optimism. Players and team officials who had chafed at delays and inconsistencies with MLB’s testing protocols came around and praised them for improvements. Anthony S. Fauci, a Nationals fan and the nation’s leading infectious-disease expert, would throw out the first pitch at Nationals Park, which seemed like tacit and meaningful approval. The conditions outside ballparks remained bleak. Maybe they could make it work. Maybe they could offer the country an example of how to live with the virus, a choice we don’t have after months of utter failure to contain it.

When the Nationals discovered a test Soto took Tuesday came back positive in the wee hours Thursday, any accumulation of confidence was shattered. Rizzo and Martinez both downplayed the possibility other Nationals had been compromised by the virus, citing four previous negative tests by Soto, social distancing protocols and contact tracing. No other Nationals were ruled ineligible, and Rizzo said all the tests they received back are negative.

That all sounds like a silver lining, but it raises uncomfortable, potentially dangerous issues. Nationals players and staff underwent another batch of tests Thursday, Rizzo said. MLB has improved its testing lag, but there is no way to eliminate it. It is impossible to rule out that Nationals players took the Nationals Park field Thursday night carrying the virus.

“I’m a little bit more concerned now until we get our next test results back and everybody comes back negative,” Martinez said.

Root, root, root for the tests to come back negative.

Hopefully, Soto, whom the Nationals said is asymptomatic, got unlucky with a false positive. Hopefully, if it’s not false, no other Nationals staff or players contracted the virus. And if any did, hopefully a potential outbreak does not jump the fence to another team. If it does, this experiment will end in its infancy.

Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said his team had “no hesitation” playing Thursday night after it learned of Soto’s positive test. He reasoned that players understood what they signed up for and that risk will be unavoidable.

On a secondary level, Soto’s positive test raises competitive concerns. For the Nationals, they must defend their title after losing Anthony Rendon to free agency without the beating heart of their lineup, one of the most prolific young hitters the game has known. The 60-game sprint means a significant chunk of the Nationals’ season, at least, will unfold without their best hitter. Andrew Stevenson started in left Thursday night.

“Next man up,” Rizzo said. “Let’s go.”

Rizzo, to his credit, quickly added the first priority is to take care of Soto and his family. But then he had to strategize how to construct a roster without his best everyday player.

He presumably will not be the last general manager to face that task. For MLB, Soto’s absence underscores the risk of the season turning into a competitive farce. Former all-stars like Buster Posey, Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond already opted out. Attrition always matters in a baseball season, but a pulled hamstring is not the same as a lethal airborne illness.

“This is part of preparation for baseball in 2020,” Rizzo said. “We’re going to have to learn how to adjust to these things. The team that really does the best job of keeping their star players on the field and keeping them healthy has got a better chance of winning than the other teams.”

Trying to separate the competitive considerations of Soto’s test circles back to the question of whether there should be a baseball season at all. Rizzo should not be faulted for making the assessment, for doing his job in trying conditions. But it is difficult to listen to it and escape the dystopian nature of the 2020 baseball season. This is not going to be a galvanizing symbol for a battered America. It is a desperate attempt to salvage revenue. It is a survival test.

The questions do not end, and the answers do not come easily, if at all. Assuming the test is not a false positive, what will happen to Soto’s lungs and heart in the future, even if he continues not to feel symptoms? Will his family be okay? Those questions place a queasy pall over the season and lead only to more questions. Should we hope this works, or should we wonder whether it’s the right thing to try at all?