Birth of third son not expected to keep Nationals’ Ian Desmond from NLDS

Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond’s wife, Chelsey, is pregnant with the couple’s third son and could deliver the child in the coming weeks, before the end of the postseason. 

Desmond said Saturday that both mother and child are healthy. He will leave the team to be with his wife when the moment nears, but he said doctors could not induce birth until Oct. 11, which would coincide with Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

“Unless nature takes its course,” Desmond added.

Desmond said Saturday that Chelsey is resting in Sarasota, Florida, and meeting weekly with a doctor. The Desmonds already have two other sons: 3-year-old Grayson and Cruz, who was born last year.

“Three for three,” he said with a smile.

Manager Matt Williams acknowledged that Desmond could miss a game against the Giants in the NLDS if the child is born earlier than expected.

---

PHOTOS: NLDS Game 1: Giants 3, Nationals 2

---

“There’s a chance,” Williams said. “With those things, you certainly never know. But there are off days as well. She’s very close. Desi’s keeping us well-informed of the events that are going on. So we don’t know that. We’ll see how it goes and as it sits right now, all indications are that she’s perfectly fine, baby’s perfectly fine and they’re just awaiting the arrival. So we’ll see how that plays out.”

Desmond became the second major league player to utilize the paternity list when his first son was born in 2011. There is no postseason paternity list, so should Desmond need to leave the club, it would not be able to recall another player to replace him.

Williams stressed that it is unsure whether the situation will even come to that.

“We just don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “With the birth of children, it’s often times you can induce, you can do things that would allow them to have that off day. But they’re not at that point yet. So we’d have to consult everybody involved and find out what could and couldn’t be done.”