JAYS KNOW ALL ABOUT DISRUPTIONS OF THE ROAD
Team president has no sympathy for clubs complaining about Canada's COVID rules
You'd like to think the Toronto Blue Jays would have enjoyed their first and only off day in the first 31 calendar pages of the 2022 season.
Alas, not all off days are created equal.
Normally, the Jays would have boarded their charter flight bound for Boston on Sunday night looking forward to a day off in the city of one of their American League East rivals. But normal is hoofed out the door when Monday is Boston Marathon day, and the Jays delayed their journey until late Monday afternoon.
Of course, a day's delay in travel is nothing for this Jays team, given what they've gone through the past two seasons — forced by Canada's COVID -19 restrictions to play the majority of their games on the road and out of the country.
Now that some of their top rivals are going to get a dose of COVID -19 challenges, don't expect any sympathy coming out of One Blue Jays Way. The Oakland Athletics, in Toronto on the weekend, were the first to be affected with four players unable to cross the border because they weren't vaccinated for the virus.
And more higher profile blocks are coming.
So what about those who cry foul about a potential unfair advantage?
“We remain focused on the Jays and managing our season and challenges,” Jays president Mark Shapiro said via email when we asked him Monday about opposition baseball players being denied entry into Canada.
Shapiro's feelings on others braying about the potential unfairness of the circumstances are much stronger, however, as he made clear earlier this spring.
In his answer to a question we asked the Jays president and CEO about the potential of the 2022 Jays, Shapiro veered into an impassioned review of his team's logistical challenges the previous two seasons.
“I will tell you this, I almost jump through my phone screen when I see a reporter write that it's a competitive disadvantage of the Toronto Blue Jays because teams can't bring players across the border,” Shapiro said during a session with the media at the Jays' player development complex in Dunedin, Fla. “You've got to be freaking kidding me.
“How about the competitive disadvantage of not being able to sign players that aren't vaccinated? How about playing half your season in Dunedin and Buffalo (as the team did in 2021)? Is that a competitive disadvantage? But nobody was writing that from the U.S. when that was going on.”
The issue is on the cusp of being a potentially huge story for Major League Baseball, especially given the implications attached to two of the heavyweights in the American League East.
Alex Cora, manager of a Red Sox team the Jays will meet for three games here at Fenway Park starting today, has acknowledged that “multiple players” will not be able to make the trip to Toronto later this month because of their vaccination status.
One of those players is starter Tanner Houck, who was projected to get the ball in the series. Houck told the Boston Globe that he won't be headed north.
“It's a personal choice for everyone whether they get it or not,” Houck told the Globe. “That's all I really got to say on it.”
Time is running out on unvaccinated players clearing a path to the Rogers Centre, as long as current restrictions remain in place.
At present, the Canadian government requires individuals to have received a second COVID-19 vaccine dose — or a single shot of the Johnson and Johnson version — and to do so 14 days prior to entry. That makes this week a big one for the Yankees, where it has been speculated that a number of players have not been vaccinated. The Bronx Bombers are scheduled to visit Toronto for a three-game series starting on May 2.
During spring training, Yankees star outfielder Aaron Judge wouldn't directly answer a question about his vaccination status. At the time, there was talk that unvaccinated players would not be allowed in New York.
“We'll cross that bridge after the time comes,” Judge said on March 15.
“But right now so many things could change. So I'm not really too worried about that right now.”
What could change for any unvaccinated players is that they could get the required shots or they could sit around and hope that Canadian regulations change, which doesn't seem likely.
And depending on which players are affected, it could certainly diminish the attack of the Yankees, who are scheduled to play nine games in Toronto over the remainder of the season.
The Jays, who are by now steeled to such inconvenience, albeit not losing eligibility of key players, find themselves in the throes of a tough early season stretch of their schedule.
The 21-game run that begins today includes seven games against the Red Sox, six against the reigning AL West champion Houston Astros and three against the Yankees.
Lefty Yusei Kikuchi, making his second start with the Jays, gets his start facing Boston's Nathan Eovaldi.
Despite an offence that has yet to fire consistently and some struggles from parts of the rotation not known as Alek Manoah and Kevin Gausman, the Jays will enter the series in Beantown with sole early season possession of first in the AL East.
With big home crowds welcoming them to Rogers Centre through the first six Toronto dates, the Jays are relishing having a legit homefield advantage once again.
Extend that back to July 30, 2021, and they are 29-13, a margin that could keep getting better depending on the status of the visitors.
How about playing half your season in Dunedin and Buffalo (as the team did in 2021)? Is that a competitive disadvantage?