Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

This morning all of the stories should be centered around the Los Angeles Dodgers and how they have finally ended a 32-year World Series drought by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 6 by a score of 3-1.

We should be talking about a questionable managerial decision by Kevin Cash, removing Blake Snell from the game in the sixth inning, after giving up only his second hit of the night.

Or how the first year into Mookie Betts‘ tenure with the Dodgers, he delivered a knockout punch with his solo home run in the eighth inning.

Yet despite all of the great on-field action we can discuss about the conclusion to the 2020 season, a positive COVID test casts a shadow over everything that happened last night.

Justin Turner, the one Dodger that Mets fans are most familiar with, ended up being pulled from the game curiously in the eighth inning after having gone 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

The 35-year-old has spent the last seven years of his career in Los Angeles leading the Dodgers. Yet for some reason, he would not be on the field to watch them get over the hump and finally become champions.

We later learned that Turner had tested positive for COVID-19, with the results apparently reaching MLB in the middle of the game. They promptly instructed the Dodgers to remove Turner, before handing them the Commissioner’s Trophy later in the hour.

The timeline of all of this is curious, but according to Jeff Passan’s reporting, the MLB was informed that the results from Turner’s test from Monday had come back inconclusive. This news came during the second inning of the game.

Then the results from Tuesday’s test eventually showed a positive result for Turner and he was pulled from the game six innings later.

As the clock crept past midnight on the East Coast the night just got stranger for Major League Baseball, at the conclusion a 2020 season that will never be forgotten.

First you had the 11,000 fans booing Rob Manfred when he hit the stage to announce the Dodgers as World Series champions.

Then you had Manfred’s awkward interview with Tom Verducci, where they discussed, “the first positive COVID test in two months after successfully making it through the season.”

But that’s not all folks.

After the reported positive COVID test, Turner ended up making his way back onto the field to celebrate the victory with his teammates. He was front and center for a team picture, in which he promptly removed his mask.

Now as I write this now at 1 a.m. ET, there has yet to be any reports that Turner’s test was a false positive. Maybe those reports will eventually come, clarifying why Turner was allowed back on the filed to celebrate with his teammates.

Hopefully there are no further ramifications from this blip in Major League Baseball’s protocols, which came at the worst possible time.

In the end, it really is a shame that the final moments of the 2020 season had to be overshadowed by a positive COVID test. At least the Dodgers won this game, otherwise who knows when exactly they would’ve been cleared to play a Game 7.