Canada Won’t Allow Unvaccinated MLB Players To Enter Country

Baseball’s been back for less than a day, and the Blue Jays have already committed an egregious error. Toronto, and Canada more generally, has announced that unvaccinated Major League Baseball players will not be allowed to travel to Toronto to participate in games against the hometown Blue Jays.

Screw ’em, it’s America’s past time anyways.

MLB players who are not vaccinated can not play in Toronto under the current restrictions pic.twitter.com/V5hhdBTGCE

— Baseball Authority (@BsblAuthority) March 11, 2022

Sportsnet columnists Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith explained that, because the Canadian border is still closed to unvaccinated visitors (Seriously? Get with it, Canada!), MLB players who haven’t taken COVID-19 shots will be placed on restricted list when their teams are in Toronto.

If and when unvaccinated players are placed on the restricted list, they will not be paid for the games they miss, nor will they be credited with service time. Ohhh Canada.

Davidi tweeted that the decision was discussed at length during negotiations between the players union and owners as part of the new CBA: “This was a significant discussion point as players considered (the) CBA yesterday. We’re told a few teams took serious issue with the matter, but ultimately relented.”

This is a baffling decision by Canada, yet seems ridiculously appropriate from an MLB standpoint. The league has a maddening way of alienating fans whenever possible and is already galaxies behind other major sports, especially the NFL, in popularity.

Earlier this month the NFL essentially washed their hands of COVID. The NBA, essentially started ignoring COVID in January.

Then there’s baseball and Toronto, starting the season with an unforced error.

Follow along on Twitter: @OhioAF