Despite the celebration around the Dodgers’ first World Series victory in 32 years, many of the headlines in the aftermath of Game 6 on Tuesday night centered around the peculiar handling of All-Star third baseman Justin Turner’s infection with the coronavirus. Now, it appears MLB will investigate Turner’s actions as the Dodgers celebrated their win.
A new statement from the league shows that Turner was instructed to isolate from Dodgers players and staff in order to keep others safe once it became clear Turner tested positive for COVID-19. Rather than doing so, Turner openly violated league policy, with reports suggesting he intentionally disregarded rules agreed on between MLB and its players in order to be on the field celebrating with his team postgame.
“When MLB Security raised the matter of being on the field with Turner, he emphatically refused to comply,” the statement says.
MLB statement: pic.twitter.com/IcTb7NvMw1
— Jared Diamond (@jareddiamond) October 28, 2020
While it was shocking to many watching the festivities to see Turner without a mask next to his teammates as they posed for photos, or kissing his wife on-field, MLB’s statement shows that Turner seemed to clearly break league protocols on top of being unsafe. That could be the grounds for a more serious punishment given from MLB to Turner or the Dodgers.
Fortunately, as the statement above notes, nobody from the Dodgers or Rays seems to have showed signs of the virus in any of the tests administered in the hours since Los Angeles’ Game 6 win.