Long weekend of baseball still on tap for now

After their first scheduled series was postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak that swept through the Marlins roster, the Nationals finally will face Miami for the first time in 2020 this weekend, with a rare five-game series on tap that includes the first 14-inning doubleheader in club history.

At least, that's the plan as of right now.

All systems appeared to be go for tonight's opener at Nationals Park, but then Thursday evening the Marlins' series finale against the Mets was called off after two members of New York's traveling party tested positive for COVID-19.

No new Marlins players or staffers have tested positive, and they were cleared to travel to D.C. last night, so hopefully they'll be OK to play tonight and throughout the long weekend. But it would be naïve to just assume everything's fine and not at least acknowledge the possibility something could happen between now and first pitch at 6:05 p.m. that would prevent the game from being played as scheduled.

This, sadly, is the way everyone has to think about the 2020 season. It's pointless to look ahead any further than tonight's game, because everything can change in such a hurry.

Assuming they do play, this is a particularly challenging stretch for the Nationals. They must play five games in the next four days, and that's only the beginning of a stretch of 21 scheduled games in the next 19 days.

The club hasn't announced whether Wednesday night's rainout in Atlanta will alter its weekend rotation plans, but for now Patrick Corbin is slated to start tonight, with Max Scherzer on the mound for the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.

The identity of the starter for the nightcap game (in which the Marlins will be the designated home team) remains a mystery. Prior to the rainout, Davey Martinez suggested it would be one of two prospects currently on the taxi squad, either of whom would be making his major league debut: left-hander Ben Braymer or right-hander Wil Crowe.

But the rainout did open the door for Erick Fedde to work his way into the plan somewhere. Martinez could elect to have Fedde start the second game of the doubleheader and avoid using one of the unproven kids, though one way or another they're going to need a sixth starter no later than Tuesday.

Because Major League Baseball allows for an extra 29th man for doubleheaders, and because each of Saturday's games is scheduled for only seven innings, there is logic to sticking with the original plan. If Scherzer can go six or even all seven innings in the opener and either Braymer or Crowe can just give three decent innings to start the nightcap, the bullpen will be plenty rested to be able to take over after that.

The series continues Sunday afternoon with Aníbal Sánchez the previously announced starter. And it wraps around all the way to Monday evening, with a starter to be named (probably Austin Voth).

That's a long series, with a lot of baseball to be played in a short amount of time.

At least, that's how it looks as we sit here this morning and look at the next four days in total.

Unfortunately, we probably shouldn't be doing that. First things first, the Nats and Marlins need to hope nothing changes to prevent them from playing tonight.