As it surfaced Tuesday night during Game 6 of the World Series that the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Justin Turner tested positive for COVID-19, Utah became a key part of the discussion surrounding a story that in some ways is dwarfing the fact that the Dodgers won their first championship in 32 years.
That’s because Utah is the location of the laboratory — the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory in South Jordan — that Major League Baseball has used throughout the 2020 season to process the regular COVID-19 tests administered to league personnel.
Multiple outlets reported Tuesday night that in the second inning, MLB was notified by the lab that Turner’s Monday COVID-19 test had come back inconclusive. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that tests taken Monday arrived late in Utah, and thus they were not done being processed before Game 6 started.
Once the second inning notification happened, multiple outlets reported, MLB asked the lab to run tests taken Tuesday, which had already arrived. Turner’s result came back positive in the seventh inning, Passan reported, and Turner was taken out of the game.
Since then, Turner and the Dodgers have been widely criticized, as Turner was originally held back from celebrating with his team postgame but later went out on the field to celebrate, which included kissing his wife, posing for photos without a mask on and holding the championship trophy.
Turner tweeted, “Thanks to everyone reaching out! I feel great, no symptoms at all. Just experienced every emotion you can possibly imagine. Can’t believe I couldn’t be out there to celebrate with my guys! So proud of this team & unbelievably happy for the City of LA #WorldSeriesChamps.”