Susan Walsh / Associated Press
The Washington Nationals have reportedly been cleared to play their 2020 season opener against the New York Yankees at their local Nationals Park stadium, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
Jesse Dougherty and Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post He reported Thursday that the MLB club had begun exploring other venues for next weekend’s games due to coronavirus-related restrictions in the nation’s capital.
The Nats and Yanks will help kick off the 60-game regular season shortened next Thursday as part of a doubleheader on ESPN. The San Francisco Giants matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers will follow.
Washington and New York have Friday off before playing the last two games in the series, Saturday and Sunday. It’s their only head-to-head matchup of the campaign, which will see teams play 40 games against divisional opponents and 20 contests against regional enemies from the other league (AL East vs. NL East, etc.).
The Nationals are the reigning World Series champions after entering last year’s playoffs as a wild card before knocking out the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros en route to win the first franchise title.
In May, Nats manager Dave Martinez said the club would not raise the flag and distribute the championship rings until fans could attend.
“I am sure I speak for everyone in our organization: we are going to celebrate, somehow, somehow … We want to hang the banner with the fans. We want to put our rings on with the fans. When? I don’t know. How “We don’t know. But we want them to participate,” Martínez told reporters.
He added, “For me, this is a big problem. A big problem for everyone. So we want to include everyone.”
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the league wanted to complete the games smoothly before even considering the possible return of fans.
“I think we should start running and feel comfortable being able to play in empty stadiums safely before moving forward with the fans,” Manfred told Ronald Blum of the Associated Press in late June.
The Nationals regular season calendar runs through September 27.
Bleacher Report’s David Gardner interviews athletes and other sports figures for the podcast How to survive without sports.
.
