Nationals - Mets Opening Day Postponed Because of COVID, Which is Still Very Much a Problem
Opening Day has arrived and Major League Baseball has its first two postponed games of the season. No, it's not raining in Washington. It's the first COVID issue of the year. According to Buster Olney, today's game, as well as Friday's game, between the Washington Nationals and New York Mets have been postponed.
Nationals manager Mike Rizzo said on Wednesday that the team would be down five players and a staff member because of COVID protocols. At least one person had a positive test. For baseball writers, this is a reminder that yes, the pandemic still is in fact going on.
MLB was doing great handling COVID last yr until literally last WS game (Justin Turner). Doing great thru spring, but now #Mets-#Nationals opener postponed due to Nats’ COVID cases. A reminder that we shouldn’t need that the virus is still with us.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) April 1, 2021
Made it through spring training with barely a covid-related blip and now #Mets OD is postponed due to #Nats concerns. A brutal reminder we’re not out of the woods yet.
— David Lennon (@DPLennon) April 1, 2021
Yes, there is still very much a problem with COVID-19. There are still tens of thousands of new cases every day across the country. We're fighting misinformation that has some people choosing not to get vaccinated. This is a problem that exists in the general public and baseball clubhouses across America. If teams can convince their players to get vaccinated (it's safe and it works!) then we can go back to just watching the weather report to know whether or not a game will be postponed.