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When Ian Desmond’s first son, Grayson, was born in April 2011, Desmond made Major League Baseball history. The Nationals shortstop took advantage of a then-new league rule that allowed players to take up to three days off to be with mother and child, and their team to fill their roster spot with impunity in the meantime. In so doing, he became the first player ever to be placed on paternity leave.

Desmond’s wife, Chelsey, is due with the couple’s third child in the next week or so, but this time Desmond does not have the paternity leave option: According to an MLB spokesman, there is no paternity leave after the regular season. If Desmond were to leave the team to join his family in Sarasota, Fla., the Nationals would have to play a man down.

Any speculation about staying or going is premature, Desmond says; his son’s estimated time of arrival is as uncertain as the Nationals’ playoff future.

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“She’s not quite there yet, and neither are we as far as a decision,” Desmond said. “Obviously, as things get closer, we’ve got a little bit of experience with this — it’s our third one — so we’ll see how it unfolds.

“There’s nothing going to happen in the near future.”

Desmond said the earliest doctors would induce labor would be next Saturday, Oct. 11, which would also be Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

“(Desmond) is keeping us very well-informed of the events going on. We don’t know (that he would miss a game). We will see how it goes,” said Nationals Manager Matt Williams.

“With the birth of children, often times you can induce, you can do things that would allow them to have that off-day,” Williams added later. “They are not at that point yet. We would have to consult everybody involved and find out what could and couldn’t be done.”

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Desmond said “(Chelsey’s) healthy and the baby’s healthy.”

“It’s a boy, third one,” Desmond said with a smile. “Three for three.”

If Desmond were to travel for the birth of his son, the Nationals would likely fill in with either Danny Espinosa or Asdrubal Cabrera at shortstop — though Espinosa seems more probable. Though Cabrera spent much of his career known as one of the league’s smoothest defensive shortstops — and although he played 92 games there for Cleveland this season and one with the Nationals– his range has diminished over the past few seasons.

He’s also transitioned to second base quickly and effectively, adjusting to the right side of the diamond in his two months as a National with seeming ease, still boasting that slick glove and footwork, though at a position where he is required to cover less ground.

Desmond has missed fewer than 10 games in four of the past five seasons, and has a .304 average in seven career postseason games.

Balancing baseball and family

“People think it’s all roses and butterflies,” says Chelsey Desmond, the wife of Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond.

Balancing baseball and family

“People think it’s all roses and butterflies,” says Chelsey Desmond, the wife of Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond.

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