Nationals: After Soto test, MLB should consider postseason bubble

After Washington Nationals OF Juan Soto tests positive for COVID-19, MLB should consider a bubble again.

A few hours prior to the year’s first pitch, it was announced that Washington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto tested positive for COVID-19. Upon learning that the test had been conducted two days prior and that Soto participated in team workouts and practice the day before, very little about the process made any sense.

Just imagine, you’re tested on a Tuesday but you have to wait for your results until Thursday, the day you’re to be tested again. Essentially, you go 48 hours without knowing the results of your test, so you proceed as if you’re COVID-negative. Then, you learn that you’re positive.

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Doesn’t that mean that you were positive 2 days ago and that you might have endangered your teammates? And now that we know you’re positive after everyone is tested again, doesn’t that mean that now we have to wait two more days to find out if anybody else was infected?

This is precisely the situation the Nats are currently under, and to make things worse, they share the field with the New York Yankees on Opening Day, thereby putting their players in danger.

I mean, I’m not sure why MLB and the MLBPA didn’t work out something a bit more practical. Anything short of a rapid test just isn’t viable. Thus you risk having to potentially halt activities again, leaving plenty of excited fans in the lurch.

This is precisely why MLB should reconsider the bubble idea come postseason time. With an expanded field, at a time when the nation expects a second wave of COVID-19 to hit, baseball should look to control the environment as much as they can.

So far, the bubble seems to be working for the NBA, who recently reported zero positive tests. Why not mimic best practices that are actually working?

The great fear is that the Washington Nationals and Juan Soto case is only the tip of the iceberg. It’s not too late to rethink ways to make this work.

For now, consider a rapid test. For the future, consider a bubble.