New on Sports Illustrated: Worst World Series Celebration Ever: Unchecked

Justin Turner celebrating after testing positive for COVID-19 dampened the Dodgers World Series celebration.

This Los Angeles Dodgers team deserved a World Series. And they deserved to celebrate it. But now the celebration is a bigger story than their win and has essentially overshadowed what they accomplished, at least for the moment.

Personally, I have one question, how was Blake Snell pulled from the game before Justin Turner?

I would have thought analytics would also say to avoid a potential superspreader event. If you had told me before the Turner news that something from that game would be a bigger story than Kevin Cash and the Rays pulling Snell after he gave up only his second hit, I would have said you were crazier than they were. But then I saw Turner, who tested positive for COVID-19, in a team photo, maskless.

The World Series trophy probably needs to be quarantined for a while because buddy was all up on that thing too.

And thus, the decision to pull Snell, which is one of the only things I’ve seen a true consensus on in recent times is mostly forgotten.

Turner’s return to the field also takes away from his teammates as well. Mookie Betts won’t get quite the recognition he would have otherwise in being the difference for a team that was close to the top for years but finally got over the hump. While Clayton Kershaw, who finally pitched consistently well on the biggest stage, won’t get all his flowers either.

We always hear about sports as a distraction, but Turner, MLB, and the Dodgers actually gave us yet another reminder. Even if they simply wanted to pretend things were normal, just for a brief moment in time.