Mets-Nationals postponed in Washington as coronavirus issues disrupt Opening Day

After learning of the positive test late Tuesday night, Nationals players, coaches and staff took both PCR and rapid tests. Of the rapid tests, one came back inconclusive and led to further contact tracing, according to a person with knowledge of the results.

The player’s positive result was from a test conducted Monday at the Nationals’ spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. All players, coaches and staff were also tested as part of MLB’s every-other-day model that began in July. Thursday’s postponement, according to multiple people with knowledge of the decision, was cause by the need for additional contact tracing and uncertainty with the Nationals’ pending results.

The Nationals were due to be tested again Thursday afternoon, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, but were mostly waiting on the results from Wednesday’s tests to plot their next steps.

This is the second straight Opening Day marred by the coronavirus pandemic. Both instances have involved the Nationals. In July, hours before their season opener with the New York Yankees, General Manager Mike Rizzo announced that outfielder Juan Soto had tested positive. And on Wednesday afternoon, about 27 hours before the scheduled first pitch against the Mets, Rizzo announced this latest positive test.

Then, Rizzo was confident the Nationals and Mets would play Thursday night. But the risk of further spreading led to a league decision to pause operations. The Nationals went the full six weeks of spring training without a positive test result. As a whole, MLB announced last Friday that it had 17 positive tests out of 72,751 conducted since mid-February.

During the 2020 season, the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals dealt with coronavirus outbreaks that led to lengthy pauses. The Marlins had 20 positive tests, including players and staff, which led to a handful of postponements. The Cardinals were derailed by more than a dozen positive tests that kept them out of action for more than two weeks. The Nationals had planned to re-raise their 2019 World Series banner in front of 5,000 fans Thursday night. Now their upcoming schedule will be determined by contact tracing and their latest results.

“We’ve been through it unfortunately,” Cardinals Manager Mike Shildt said Thursday. “Hearts go out. Hope everybody’s, first of all, healthy and it doesn’t spread. We know it clearly can, quickly. Firsthand experience with that. It is unfortunate, but you are hopeful.”

MLB’s operation manual for 2021 uses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition of close contact: “Being within six feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from two days before illness onset until the time the individual is isolated.” Anyone who was in close contact with an infected individual has to quarantine for at least seven days. Anyone who tests positive has to isolate for at least 10 days (starting at the first sign of symptoms for a symptomatic case, or the initial test for an asymptomatic individual). D.C. regulations could require close contacts to quarantine longer than MLB’s mandatory week.

Since the test that revealed a positive result, the infected player could have been around teammates at the facility in West Palm Beach; on a bus to the team’s charter flight to Dulles International Airport on Monday evening; on the charter flight; or during a bus ride from Dulles to Washington at the end of the trip.

ESPN was first to report the postponement.

Adam Kilgore contributed to this report, which has been updated.