Nationals owner Mark Lerner commented on President Donald Trump's intentions to attend the World Series, saying, "He should be at it."
Trump told reporters Thursday that he plans to attend Game 5 on Sunday as long as Washington didn't sweep. After losing the first two games, Houston came back with a 4-1 win Friday to stay in the series.
“Well, he has every right to come,” Lerner said. “He’s the president of the United States whether you like him or not. It’s a special event."
Lerner went on to explain that the Nationals, who played their first World Series game in Washington since 1933 on Friday, that the team has the opportunity to choose who throws the ceremonial first pitch. Lerner said the Nationals opted to go with chef Jose Andres.
“We felt there are many other candidates that should be considered before [Trump],” Lerner added. “The 2005 guys will be awesome (Friday). Our scholar from the baseball academy (Saturday). Jose, who I think is being considered for a Nobel Peace Prize. That's three pretty good selections. We just wanted to have the right people. I think we got a nice mix of people.”
However, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred insisted Trump turned down the option to throw the first pitch because he doesn't want to interrupt the flow of fans coming in. Instead, Trump will arrive after Game 5 begins.
“We actually had a conversation with him about first pitches,” Manfred told reporters. “His view was that in order to make the fan experience as positive as possible, he would arrive at Game 5 sometime after the game began so it wouldn’t interfere with fans getting into the stadium. Quite frankly, we were very grateful for that. We thought it was a great decision on the President’s part.”
Trump was asked Thursday if he was going to throw out the first pitch to which he responded: “I don't know. They gotta dress me up in a lot of heavy armor. I'll look too heavy. I don't like that.”
The Nationals will host the Astros for Game 4 on Saturday at 8:07 p.m. ET.