Longtime baseball writer and MASN analyst Mel Antonen died at 64 on Sunday, the Nationals confirmed.
Antonen passed away after a battle with COVID-19 as well as a rare autoimmune disease. He detailed his battle with both illnesses in June 2020.
"In 2020, I have battled two formidable foes while facing life-and-death situations: I knocked out a rare autoimmune disease that attacked my liver and gave me—at best—a 50–50 chance of survival," Antonen wrote. "Before my treatments ended, I tested positive for COVID-19, the virus that is ravaging the United States with more than two million cases and a rising death toll that could reach 200,000 by this fall.