Out of uncertainty comes a new Nationals motto: ‘Suck it up and deal with it’

This is less than ideal. A coronavirus outbreak postponed the first four games of the year, which is still cause for concern from a health perspective — not to mention a competitive standpoint. Well-being comes first. But if the affected players get healthy — and at this point, that’s the absolute expectation — then the competitive piece matters immediately.

The first month of the Nationals’ season was expected to be a gantlet regardless of the circumstances. Now, there’s a chance — a very good chance — that the squad that faces the Braves three times in two days will be without the players projected to start at first base, second base, shortstop, left field and catcher.

How to deal with all this?

“Be ready for the unexpected,” said Max Scherzer, who has been kicking at the hay in his stall for the better part of a week. “As soon as you think you have something nailed down, it’s going to be pulled out from underneath you.”

Or put another way …

There was a defiant, what-choice-do-we-have edge to the Nationals after they finished the second day of workouts following the coronavirus pause that began last Wednesday with the revelation of one positive test and continued through the weekend with three more positives and seven other players, as well as two staff members, placed in quarantine because of contact tracing.

Because the worst symptom any player has suffered thus far is a fever, and because most of the players who have been in quarantine have reported as asymptomatic, there’s cause to exhale and give thanks — and then wonder how this team can possibly get off to a decent start with a hodgepodge lineup.

“I still worry about these guys,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “They’re all doing fine. Can’t wait to get them back.”

We don’t know precisely who will be placed on the Nats’ covid-19 injured list, but absent from Monday’s workout were Josh Bell, the new first baseman; Josh Harrison, due to start at second; Trea Turner, the catalyst of a shortstop and potential No. 3 hitter; Kyle Schwarber, the free agent signed to play left field; and Yan Gomes and Alex Avila, the two men designated to catch this season.

So, then, more than half a lineup watching from home? “It is possible,” Martinez said. And maybe the possibility that veteran Jonathan Lucroy, who has not yet reported to the Nationals after he was cut by the Chicago White Sox at the end of spring training, could catch Scherzer in the opener.

For those players who tested positive and their teammates in quarantine, there will be physical and mental components to eventually coming back. The advice of Juan Soto, the star outfielder who entered covid isolation on Opening Day last year: “Just try to don’t be crazy.”

Which won’t be easy. Bell and Schwarber, for instance, rolled through spring training, pulverizing Grapefruit League pitching, appearing as if each was ready for a bounce-back season. If they’re unable to play when the season opens, as it now appears, the Nationals could be impacted even after they return. The minor leagues don’t start up until next month. There’s no competitive format for rehabbing players to knock off rust.

And yet there’s only one attitude to take.

“We’re going to make it work,” Martinez said.

It’s all you can say. Still, this is unsettling stuff. Not just because of the pandemic. Baseball is a sport built on routine and rhythm. Right now, for Washington, neither of those exist.

“Just suck it up and deal with it,” Scherzer said. “You can’t cry about situations. Everybody’s dealt a hand, and you’ve just got to play it.”

The hand for Scherzer, whose between-starts regimen is legendary: He thought he would pitch Thursday against the New York Mets. Instead, it’s the Braves five days later. On a good day, Scherzer’s nostrils flare and his teeth grind as he prepares to pitch again. This? That gap could not have been fun at Chez Scherzer.

“It was probably better that nobody was able to be around him,” Zimmerman said. “He would have been terrible to be around. He’s hardly bearable on a regular five days … so 10 days would have been miserable. I think I can see Max just going out in his own backyard and throwing a baseball to nobody, just to make sure he’s ready.”

Close but not exactly. Rather, he found a park and someone to catch and threw there. It is the mind-set of this team right now, just as it has been the mind-set of a country for 13 months. Be responsible. Be safe. Within those parameters, get it done however you can.

“It’s a crazy year,” Scherzer said. “You’ve just go to keep a smile on your face. We get to play baseball [Tuesday]. So I’m happy.”

Let there be joy. The Nationals’ romp to the District’s first World Series title — a feat that still hasn’t been celebrated at Nats Park in front of Nats fans — (in)famously began with a 19-31 start to the 2019 season. Overcoming that is an accomplishment. It is not a blueprint.

So here come the Braves, then the Dodgers, then the Cardinals in St. Louis and later in Washington, plus the Mets in New York — all in the first month, all potentially with a compromised roster.

At least, finally, there will be baseball.

“Hopefully by the end of the year,” Zimmerman said, “we won’t even really remember these tough times.”

The tough times, they’re here. For the 26 men who suit up Tuesday — whatever their projected roles a week ago, whatever experience they have or lack — there will be joy in just starting the season. But virus or no virus, subs or stars, these games count. There’s no waiting for the full lineup to return, only hoping that the players who take the field can somehow not just compete but win.