UPDATE: Jeff Passan of ESPN provided some details of what happened. Apparently, the Dodgers learned that Turner’s test from Monday came back inconclusive during the second inning of Game 6, at which point his test from Tuesday was run. That came back in the eighth inning, and the rest played out as you’d expect.
In the second inning tonight, the lab doing COVID tests informed MLB that Justin Turner’s test from yesterday came back inconclusive. The samples from today had just arrived and were run. It showed up positive. The league immediately called the Dodgers and said to pull Turner.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 28, 2020
Passan reports that the Dodgers will undergo a full testing regiment upon returning to their hotel, and it is unclear if they will fly back to Los Angeles or stay in Dallas for the time being.
When the Dodgers return to their hotel tonight, everybody will be given a rapid PCR test. On the field right now, as they celebrate, the Dodgers are wearing masks. Unclear as to whether they’ll stay in Dallas area before traveling back to Los Angeles. Situation fluid right now.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 28, 2020
Again, it’s unclear exactly what took so long to run Monday’s tests, why Turner stayed in despite an inconclusive result, and what the next few days will end up looking like for the World Series winners.
EARLIER: The Los Angeles Dodgers won Game 6 of the World Series on Tuesday evening, taking home the seventh title in the franchise’s decorated history. In the immediate aftermath of the game, a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, a bit of news was announced that served as a sobering reminder of the current situation facing the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Dodgers pulled infielder Justin Turner from the game at the top of the eighth inning, replacing him with Kiké Hernandez. The substitution was not explained at the time, and it was presumably for defensive purposes with the team trying to protect a lead. But after the game, Kevin Burkhardt of Fox Sports revealed that Turner tested positive for COVID-19, and as a result, he was pulled.
“After the completion of the game tonight, we were informed by MLB that Justin Turner received a positive COVID test and that’s why he was removed from the game.” pic.twitter.com/EOxcMlNs5R
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 28, 2020
Obviously the No. 1 concern is that Turner is able to stay safe and healthy, as he’s caught the virus that has recorded nearly nine million confirmed cases in the United States. From there, the priority is making sure that everyone else that is in the Dodgers’ dugout remains safe and virus-free, as most (if not all) of them presumably had some amount of close interaction with Turner in recent days.
The question that exists right now, of course, is how on earth a baseball player was allowed to play seven full innings of a game before the result of their test became official. Hopefully Major League Baseball is able to provide more information on this as soon as possible.