© 2026 ABC News

Other were quick to dispute that a game was more important than a life-changing personal moment.

\"So, you're saying his wife should be able to handle childbirth, alone, without her husband there, but his team of 40 guys can't handle one playoff baseball game? In 2019, this is really what you're saying? Some lady must be lucky to have you!,\" a Twitter user in response.

So, you're saying his wife should be able to handle childbirth, alone, without her husband there, but his team of 40 guys can't handle one playoff baseball game? In 2019, this is really what you're saying? Some lady must be lucky to have you!

— Jill ❤️⚾️ (@JillinSac) October 11, 2019

Hudson, who joined the Nationals this summer, said he had the team's full support to attend his daughter's birth. He used the phrase \"life comes at you fast\" to describe facing criticisms for choosing family over his career.

\"I went from not having a job on March 21 to this huge national conversation on family values going into the playoffs,\" he said, according to ESPN. \"Life comes at you fast, man. I don't know how that happened and how I became the face for whatever conversation was going on. Everybody's got their opinions, man, and I really value my family and my family time.\"

Hudson's paternity leave was short-lived anyways. He was activated off the paternity list before game two of the series on Saturday and helped the Nationals notch a 3-1 win.

Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson have thrown their egos (and gloves) aside to help the team.

And now we're in the NLCS for the first time in our team's history.#STAYINTHEFIGHT pic.twitter.com/OaLJkddgVL

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) October 13, 2019

Hudson's decision to take at least some time away from his professional life to be with his newborn daughter and wife earned praise from Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit, husband of Serena Williams and vocal advocate for paternity leave.

Ohanian posted on Instagram that he is \"buying [Hudson's] jersey right now.\"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alexis Ohanian Sr. (@alexisohanian) on Oct 13, 2019 at 9:07pm PDT

Ohanian was very public about the fact that he took 16 weeks of paternity leave when daughter Olympia was born in 2017 and has since encouraged other dads, especially ones in high-profile positions, to take leave to in order to set an example.

\"Use me as air cover. I took my full 16 weeks,\" he told \"Good Morning America\" earlier this year. \"I wanted people to see that you could care deeply about your industry, have a tremendous passion for the work that you do but also still be able to say that you care deeply about your family and want to take this time.\"

In the U.S., only 16% of civilian workers have access to paid family leave and 88% have access to unpaid family leave, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The U.S. is the only advanced industrialized nation without a guarantee of paid leave for new parents, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The median length of paternity leave for dads in the U.S. is one week, according to Pew Research Center data.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Family/nationals-player-daniel-hudson-faces-criticism-missing-playoff/story?id=66261487","legacySlug":"/family/story/nationals-player-daniel-hudson-faces-criticism-missing-playoff-66261487","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"20:00","publishDate":"10-14-2019","updatedTime":"11:18","updatedDate":"10-15-2019","socialImage":{"alt":"Daniel Hudson #44 of the Washington Nationals delivers in the ninth inning of game four of the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Nationals Park on Oct. 7, 2019 in Washington, D.C.","credit":"Rob Carr/Getty Images, FILE","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/daniel-hudson-getty-aa-191014_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"10/14/2019 20:00:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":66261487,"headline":"Nats star misses playoff game for daughter's birth","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA_NATS PLAYER MISSES GAME FOR DAUGHTER_191014","description":"Daniel Hudson missed the Nats' first NLCS game against the Cardinals.","duration":"4:00","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2019/06/190613_gma_digital_alexis_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["63009877","62928007","56788529"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"May 13, 2019","headline":"Athletes accuse Nike of allegedly penalizing them for being new moms","section":"living","slug":"/living/story/female-athletes-slam-nike-allegedly-penalizing-moms-63009877","id":63009877,"image":{"alt":"Athletes accuse Nike of allegedly penalizing them for being new moms","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/alysia-montano-01-file-gty-jef-190513_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Patrick Smith/Getty Images, FILE","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"May 9, 2019","headline":"Prince Harry leaves Meghan, baby Archie at home for work trip to the Netherlands","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/prince-harry-leaves-meghan-baby-archie-home-work-62928007","id":62928007,"image":{"alt":"Prince Harry leaves Meghan, baby Archie at home for work trip to the Netherlands","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/International/prince-harry4-rt-ml-190509_hpMain_2_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Piroschka Van De Wouw/Reuters","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"July 30, 2018","headline":"6 women bringing the mom-friendly workplace revolution we need now","section":"living","slug":"/living/story/flex-jobs-portable-pumping-rooms-mom-concierges-essential-56788529","id":56788529,"image":{"alt":"6 women bringing the mom-friendly workplace revolution we need now","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Lifestyle/stephanie-conduff-leche-lounge-1-ht-thg-180726_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Courtesy Leche Lounge\n","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Nats star misses playoff game for daughter's birth","description":"Daniel Hudson missed the Nats' first NLCS game against the Cardinals.","duration":"4:00","uploadDate":"10-14-2019","publication":"10-14-2019","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2019/06/190613_gma_digital_alexis_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2019/06/190613_gma_digital_alexis_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/family/story/nationals-player-daniel-hudson-faces-criticism-missing-playoff-66261487"}},"playlist":[{"id":"133810954","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133779647","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133810835","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133749799","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133777519","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133748258","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133730535","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133712423","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133694181","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133688738","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133616358","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133616342","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133522899","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133584123","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133579397","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133482839","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133390157","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133415361","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133414032","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133380485","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:family:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"family","title":"Nats star misses playoff game for daughter's birth","pubTime":"16:00","pubDate":"10-14-2019","modTime":"07:18","modDate":"10-15-2019","taxonomyTags":"none","id":66261487,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Nats star misses playoff game for daughter's birth","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA_NATS PLAYER MISSES GAME FOR DAUGHTER_191014","videoId":66261487,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/family/story/nationals-player-daniel-hudson-faces-criticism-missing-playoff-66261487"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/66261487","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/66261487","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};