Turner Pulled From Game 6 After Positive Virus Test (Though Timeline Is Suspect);Later, Turner Defies Orders, Returns To Field, Poses For Team Photo Without Mask

Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner was removed from Game 6 of the World Series after test results showed he was infected with SARS-CoV-2. Turner was replaced in the top of the eighth inning. The Dodgers went on to win the game, clinching their first championship since 1988.

No reason was given during the game for the substitution and Turner was not with his teammates when they ran onto the field to celebrate after the final out.

About an hour after the game, Turner was out on the field with his wife. He (at times) wore a mask. Turner hugged teammates. He was not wearing a mask when he kissed his wife or sat among his teammates for a group photo.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported during the Fox broadcast:

He tested positive yesterday. They got those positive results back this afternoon. Ran a test today, came back positive again. This is NOT a case of a false positive… he was asked not to go on the field. He insisted upon it, the Dodgers insisted upon it.

According to Ken Rosenthal, Justin Turner tested positive for yesterday's test, had a second positive test this evening and was also told not to go on the field and did anyway. pic.twitter.com/Xm1QjzW95X

— Jacob Rude (@JacobRude) October 28, 2020

A little later, Rosenthal tweeted a HUGE revision to that account:

One correction to what I said on @FS1 about Turner timeline. First result, on the test from yesterday, came back in the second inning, not in the afternoon. His test from earlier today was then expedited, and when it came back positive, he was removed from the game.

An inconclusive test should be treated as a "presumptive positive" until the results of a second test can be determined. Turner should have been immediately taken out of the game and quarantined in the second inning. More than one person asked: "How was yesterday's test not in before the 2nd inning tonight but today's test was expedited so easily? None of this makes any sense." 

Rosenthal's second version of events lines up with what ESPN's Jeff Passan reported.

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

Rob Manfred said Justin Turner was removed from the game in the 7th and “immediately isolated to prevent the spread” of COVID. 

So how did this happen? pic.twitter.com/7967tswcpr

— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) October 28, 2020

The answer is he went back out and nobody stopped him. He was asked to isolate and didn’t. https://t.co/AFyWN0Xt0b

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 28, 2020

Mookie Betts was asked by the Los Angeles Times about Turner being back on the field and in the middle of the team photo:

He's part of the team. Forget all that. He's part of the team. We're not excluding him from anything.

There are going to be a shit-ton of questions for Turner, the Dodgers, and the Commissioner's office (with or without additional players or family members testing positive over the next week). Such irresponsible behaviour.

Per @Ken_Rosenthal, Justin Turner, after a positive COVID-19 test, was asked to not go back on the field following the game - and he and the Dodgers ignored it and decided that was OK.

And you wonder why we can't get rid of COVID-19 in the United States.

— Jason Smith (@howaboutafresca) October 28, 2020

After the Dodgers won the World Series, most of the questions for Andrew Friedman focused on how Justin Turner wound up on the field tonight after two positive COVID-19 tests after the game and, most importantly, stayed there after the team photo. This story won't be going away.

— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) October 28, 2020

Diana Moskovitz (Defector) said Passan's report "leaves a whole lot out":

Why is MLB not getting testing results until the second inning? Shouldn't it get those before the game? Why are the samples from today not arriving until after the baseball game started? Is this why so many Dodgers players had masks on during their on-field celebration? . . .

During his SportsCenter appearance, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was cryptic about Turner: "It will come out later, but right now I really can't speak to it." Turner chimed in on Twitter, saying he felt "great" with no symptoms, and felt bad that he couldn't enjoy the victory with his teammates.

But a few minutes later, there he was on the field. With the World Series over, MLB and the Dodgers abandoned any pretense of protocol, as if they believed that the coronavirus had vanished following the conclusion of the season. The players who were in the same dugout as Turner for most of the game were hugging family members and each other; Turner was allowed back on the field to hang out with teammates. The Dodgers gathered for a team photo and Turner sat next to the trophy, making sure to pull down his mask for the picture.

Even in the scenario where Turner's test turns out to be a false positive, it's wildly irresponsible to let him be this close to not just his teammates, but everyone else who has to be on the field for the festivities. But there are no more games in danger of being canceled or postponed, so MLB doesn't have to care. It can treat a positive test in the middle of the World Series as a rapidly developing situation and let everyone else figure it out in the offseason.

What's most astonishing at how badly MLB screwed this up is that the NBA and NHL gave them a blueprint of how to do it successfully and it was apparently just completely ignored

i suppose it is only astonishing if you are completely unfamiliar with every other act of Rob Manfred

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 28, 2020