Two more Nationals players have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing them to a total of three positive cases, general manager Mike Rizzo told reporters Thursday night. A fourth player is likely positive but requires additional testing, he says.
This comes after Thursday's Opening Day game between the Nationals and Mets was postponed due to ongoing contact tracing related to a positive test on the Nationals.
Per MLB protocols, the three players who tested positive along with the additional player who's likely to test positive are under league-mandated quarantine. However, the entire team is now under "Mike Rizzo-mandated quarantine until we get this thing figured out ," according to the GM, who adds none of his players are reporting to the ballpark.
Among the three positives and the additional likely positive, one player experienced a fever while the others were asymptomatic, Rizzo said. The Nationals did not have a single positive test throughout spring training.
"I've got the utmost confidence that it was not a player breaking protocol," Rizzo told reporters. "We were very diligent throughout the whole spring training, and the day we landed in D.C. was the day we got our first positive."
What does this mean for the remainder of their weekend series against the Mets? They were already scheduled to play Saturday and Sunday, and although MLB builds an off-day into its Opening Day series to allow for weather, Thursday's season-opener will not be made up on Friday "out of an abundance of caution," the Nationals said. The leaves the door open for a potential doubleheader on either Saturday or Sunday.
But as of Thursday evening, MLB had not officially weighed in on whether those games will be bumped. The Nationals are scheduled to begin a three-game series against the Braves on Monday. Based on those circumstances, MASN's Mark Zuckerman speculates that it's unlikely the Nats and Mets will be playing any baseball this weekend (you can read more on that here).
It appears to be shaping up that the entire opening weekend series will be rescheduled.