Atlanta Had to Celebrate Its Title Without Its Architect

Home after testing positive for Covid-19, Alex Anthopoulos missed the party that wouldn’t have been possible without his brilliant deadline maneuvers.

HOUSTON — The Covid-19 test came back positive Saturday morning. The man who crushed the trade deadline by bringing in four outfielders who would carry his team through the World Series was now crushed himself.

Alex Anthopoulos, Atlanta’s president of baseball operations and general manager, architect of one of the greatest trade deadlines in memory, a man who not long ago left a five-year contract extension and millions on the table in Toronto as a matter of principle, now would have to stay home and miss Games 4 and 5 in Atlanta and, ultimately, Game 6 here Tuesday night as his team clinched its first championship since 1995.

“I’m fully vaxxed, I don’t have any symptoms, I feel great,” Anthopoulos said by phone from his home in the Atlanta area around 2 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday as Atlanta’s celebration roared on without him at Minute Maid Park. “I was surprised. My family is fine.”