To qualify as a fully vaccinated travel to Canada, you must have received at least 2 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine accepted for travel, a mix of 2 accepted vaccines, or at least 1 dose of the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine
60-game campaign in 2020 was defined by the risks baseball players were willing to take in order to conduct a season, then 2022 may well be defined by the stubbornness of some in refusing to protect against still-prevalent risks. Hospitalization rates for COVID-19 have risen this summer as a new variant sweeps North America. Team officials in Kansas City and elsewhere have spent months counseling players on the benefits of vaccination. The recalcitrance of certain individuals only enters the public eye when their team visits the Blue Jays.
“I’m not going to let Canada tell me what I do and don’t put in my body for a little bit of money,” Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto said on Monday. To make his stand against the Great White North, Realmuto forfeited $260,000. He planned to host his fellow unvaccinated teammates for workouts in Miami. Playing without Realmuto and third baseman Alec Bohm, the Phillies struck out 14 times on Tuesday and lost ground in the National League wild-card chase.
Left short-handed, Philadelphia met a fate similar to those experienced by Boston and Tampa Bay earlier in the season. The Royals are not contending for much of anything in 2022. But the pace of their rebuilding effort has been altered by the mandate. Because the double-digit contingent of players on the restricted list includes Kansas City’s most appealing trade asset, outfielder Andrew Benintendi.
“For me,” Benintendi told reporters, “it was a personal decision.”
But, as with all vaccine-related issues, the decisions of the few have ramifications for the many. The most pressing problem is the continued death and disruption caused by the pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on the American medical system and flattened the economy. But this is a sports website, and you came here to read about baseball, so we can focus, in this limited instance, on how Benintendi’s status hampers his trade value. There are a kinds of contenders who could use a player of his caliber. That interest would be reduced if Benintendi is unavailable for road games in Toronto, let alone a potential playoff series. There is also the public embarrassment of losing nearly half a roster because players prized “a personal decision” over the collective goal of winning baseball games. Even if it is for only a handful of days, the stink will linger. Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore emphasized the two years of effort from his organization’s medical department, front office and coaching staff to “educate everybody in our organization” and provide “the proper amount of space and grace along the way to make very informed decisions.”
“But at the end of the day, it’s their choice,” Moore said. “It’s what they decide to do.”
The teams cannot force players to receive the vaccine. They can only try to convince them. During spring training, questions hovered around the Mets and Yankees because of the city of New York’s vaccine mandate for workers. Mayor Eric Adams announced an exemption in March to allow unvaccinated athletes and performers to work. The Yankees traveled to Toronto in early May without incident, as did the Astros several days prior.
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