The Washington Nationals are scheduled to host the New York Yankees in the first game of Major League Baseball's regular season on July 23. After concerns that the Nationals might try to find a new ballpark to play their home games in 2020, the club has been granted clearance to play at Nationals Park, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
The Nationals were previously "exploring" alternate sites, including their Class-A affiliate's stadium in Fredericksburg, Virginia, because of local coronavirus protocols that could put the club at a competitive disadvantage. Under D.C.'s guidelines, any individual exposed to COVID-19 must quarantine for 14 days. Per the original Washington Post report, the city was unwilling to make exceptions for the Nationals, either for their players or their coaches.
The Nationals are not the only MLB team to face pandemic-related logistical problems at the local level. The Los Angeles Dodgers are hoping to gain an exception from similar rules; the Toronto Blue Jays haven't yet been fully cleared to play at home by Canada's government; and a number of teams -- such as the five clubs located in Florida, Texas, and Arizona, among other hotbed states -- are having to navigate worrisome local coronavirus situations while gearing up to play the 60-game schedule.
Factor in the testing snafus experienced across the league and it can be argued that MLB would be wise to reconsider starting its season next week. Still, there is no reason to believe the league is wavering in its commitment to playing the season, at least not at this point.
MLB had originally planned to begin its season on March 26. The spread of COVID-19 forced MLB (and every other American sports league) to scrap those plans about two weeks prior.
