ST. LOUIS – Daniel Hudson dumped his social media accounts a couple of years back, a frequent maneuver for professional athletes increasingly under a microscope and a move that allowed him, he said, “to try and focus on more positive things.” And as Friday turned to Saturday, and his absence from the Washington Nationals for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series to witness the birth of his third daughter became a particularly noxious talking point in certain corners of media, it was easy to see the upside.

Over 48 of the most exhilarating hours of his life, where his personal and professional obligations intersected in a most profound way, Hudson was largely able to tune out the toxicity, to turn inward and absorb the love of his family and the support of his teammates and organization that left no doubt what the right choice was.

“Needless to say,” Hudson said Saturday before Game 2 at Busch Stadium, “my oldest was pretty excited to meet her new baby sister yesterday. To be able to have that experience with my family and be there for the whole thing was everything I could have imagined.