The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series for the seventh time on October 27th. LA led the series 3-2 going into Game Six, before defeating the Tampa Bay Rays with a final score of 3-1.
But there was a small problem during the eighth inning, when third baseman Justin Turner had tested positive for covid-19. Turner, #10 on the Dodgers roster, found out that he had tested positive for covid-19 in the middle of Game 6. He was pulled from the game, and at first, none of his teammates knew why.
Justin Turner returned to the field for the celebration on the field after his teammates had been declared World Series Champs. Turner assumed that fewer people were on the field and returned with his wife and took a picture with her. Then his teammates and others started to come towards him to greet him and congratulate him. But many said that Turner wanted to come out as well to take a picture with the trophy because he deserved to do so.
Dodger right-fielder, Mookie Betts, was asked for his concerns about Turner returning to the field after being taken out because he had covid-19. Mookie said, “He is a part of the team. We are not excluding him from anything.”
All of his teammates believe Turner was one of the biggest reasons they were on that field holding up the World Series trophy and he deserved to be there celebrating with them all.
Justin Turner apologized to his teammates for not recognizing the dangers of his actions. “I will not make excuses for my conduct but I will describe my state of mind,” he said. “Winning the World Series was my life-long dream and the cumulation of everything I worked for in my career.”
His intentions were not to put anybody in danger, and he assumed that no one left was on the field, but when he arrived it turned into almost a meet-and-greet.
Five members of the Dodgers team have since tested positive for covid-19. The Los Angeles Department of Public Health did not identify any of the five people, according to USA Today. Major League Baseball said it was unaware of the positive test results for those with covid-19.
Rob Manfred, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, will not be punishing Justin Turner for leaving isolation after testing positive for covid-19. Manfred stated, “We have all made mistakes as we navigated these unprecedented challenges and have tried to learn from those mistakes so they are not repeated. With this in mind, I am closing this matter by applauding Justin for accepting responsibility, apologizing and making a commitment to set a positive example of moving forward.” Manfred essentially said that Turner deserves some blame for the incident but not all of the blame.
