It was just this past Thursday that Washington Nationals star outfielder Juan Soto tested positive for COVID-19 mere hours ahead of his team’s Opening Day game against the New York Yankees.
MLB protocols indicate that a player must test negative twice within a 48-hour span in order to be cleared for action. While that has been the case with Soto, there’s other issues here. He’s also not too happy.
Nationals star Juan Soto frustrated over MLB’s COVID-19 protocols
As the report notes, Soto has tested negative six times since initially testing positive. However, he has not had consecutive negative tests. This means that he remains out of action.
It was noted this past weekend that Soto did indeed test negative. Though, it was not a MLB-mandated test. Those don’t count.
What does this mean? There’s not a lot of other information available. Has Soto tested positive in between negative results? That could be delaying his return to the diamond. Either way, it’s certainly par for the course given the current issues relating to COVID-19 around the baseball world.
A total of 17 Marlins players test positive for COVID-19
Miami’s against the Baltimore Orioles slated for Tuesday has been postponed. It’s the second consecutive postponement in the series, leading to speculation that the MLB season could be dead on arrival. At this point, it’s hard to imagine the Marlins being able to field a competitive team over the short term.
The good news here is that zero Philadelphia Phillies players have tested positive for the virus after playing Miami over the weekend.