SERIES IS NAT HAPPENING
Entire Mets-Nationals series postponed due to COVID; Amazin’s open Monday in Philly
WASHINGTON — The Mets will have to wait through the weekend to play ball. Their series against the Nationals was postponed, Major League Baseball announced on Friday, due to continued follow-up testing and contact tracing involving members of the Nationals organization.
The Mets are scheduled to open the regular season against the Phillies on Monday in Philadelphia. First pitch will be 7 p.m. with Jacob deGrom on the mound.
“We want to play this weekend, but it’s an unfortunate situation happening here,” said Mets manager Luis Rojas. “I shared our sympathies with the Nationals. It could happen to anybody. But our point of focus has got to shift to Philly. And that’s what we’re getting ready for right now.”
The Mets will remain in Washington D.C. this weekend, where the team can continue using Nationals Park to work out and participate in a sim game on Saturday. The Phillies hosted the Braves this weekend, leaving no space for the Mets to practice there. Thus, the Mets will leave for Philly on Sunday afternoon.
The Nationals, as of Friday afternoon, had four players who tested positive for COVID-19. Six others, including players and a staff member, were in quarantine following contract tracing. The entire team, even those who did not test positive, was in quarantine on Thursday out of precaution, per Nats GM Mike Rizzo.
MLB has not yet announced when the Mets’ three games against the Nationals will be made up. The two division rivals play each other frequently throughout the 162-game season, with their next scheduled matchup later this month on April 23-25 at Citi Field.
“I feel for the Nationals over there,” said J.D. Davis. “It happened to them last year and it happened to them again this year. It is disappointing, especially (because) you are so looking forward to Opening Day and those emotions and everything — especially the fans, especially with stadiums opening up and people wanting to come in and experience a baseball game again, just see their team on the field.”
The Mets will go with the same rotation order, just pushed back by four days, Rojas said. DeGrom will start Monday, followed by Marcus Stroman on Tuesday and David Peterson will wrap up the Phillies series on Wednesday. Taijuan Walker will start the home opener at Citi Field against the Marlins on Thursday afternoon.
Due to the team’s off day next Friday on April 9, the Mets can take advantage by scheduling deGrom to pitch Saturday following his typical five days of rest. Again, the same starters listed above could follow deGrom. That way, the team will not need a fifth starter until April 14 against the Phillies in Queens. Rojas said he hasn’t talked to deGrom about that scenario, but it appears likely the Mets will plan their first five games that way.
DeGrom will throw off the slope on Saturday in an effort to keep his arm and body fresh and stretched out for his Monday start. Rojas was not concerned about the impact the team’s seven-day layoff from games will have on his ace.
“Even though you get surprised about some of these scenarios, things that are happening everywhere, we’ve been living like this since last year and the best we can do is just react quickly and start planning on what you can do to keep moving forward,” Rojas said.