Desmond could miss postseason action due to birth of son

As Ian Desmond takes part in the National League Division Series, his mind is also with his pregnant wife Chelsey, who is currently in Sarasota, Fla., with her and Desmond's families.

Depending on when Chelsey ends up giving birth to the couple's third son, Desmond might need to step away from the Nationals' postseason run to tend to his family.

Desmond said prior to Game 2 that Chelsey is currently three centimeters dilated, and while all is well with mom and baby - which is obviously most important - the Nationals shortstop has started thinking about how the October birth might impact his baseball schedule.

"She's healthy, the baby's healthy," Desmond said. "She's not quite there yet, and neither are we as far as a decision. I've got a little experience in this - the third one - so we'll see how it unfolds. But as of right now, it's not really a concern. I mean, obviously it's a concern, but there's nothing that's gonna happen in the near future."

Doctors have told the Desmonds that the earliest that they can induce Chelsey is Oct. 11, a week from today. That happens to be the day of Game 1 of the NLCS.

"Nature could take its course prior to (Oct. 11)," Desmond said. "So it's one of those things we're just kind of waiting to see what happens.

"Right now, we're obviously concerned about the health of my wife and the health of my baby. As it gets a little bit closer, or as I hear more news, I'll just kind of go from there, depending on where we're at and how things are unfolding."

In the regular season, the league has a paternity list, which allows teams to add an extra player to the roster for a couple of days while a new father spends time with his family.

Matt Williams said today that the Nationals could look into possibly adding another player to the roster should Desmond need to miss a game at some point, but that would be something they would need to discuss with MLB officials.

"We would have to consult the League office to see what could be done," Williams said. "It's a different situation with off-days and things like that within a series like this. We don't know what is going to happen. With the birth of children, often times you can induce, you can do things that would allow them to have that off-day. They are not at that point yet.

"We would have to consult everybody involved and find out what could and couldn't be done."