Camila Sosa
Charlie Montoyo, current manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, was not shy about talking about unvaccinated MLB players who find themselves out of chances to play on their visits to the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada.
On Tuesday, the Toronto Blue Jays lost 2-1 to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in the first game of the series. During the same day, Charlie Montoyo lent some of his time to talk about those who believe that the Blue Jays have an “advantage” due to the impediment of playing in Canada because of the lack of vaccine against Covid-19.
Rules are rules and that’s why we couldn’t play in Toronto for two years. And from experience nobody gives a shit. Nobody cared about us when we were in Dunedin.
Charlie Montoyo, according to Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun.
It is worth remembering that Canadian border laws require that any individual without exception who wishes to enter the country must have at least two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The same law applies to anyone who wants to enter the United States, although this is not a major concern for the Toronto Blue Jays as they have their entire roster of players and staff vaccinated by Canada’s own laws.
Even More Home Field Advantage for the Toronto Blue Jays?
It has already been the case in this 2022 MLB season that baseball players cannot play in series against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre due to the country’s border crossing impediments. Any player who does not meet the requirements to play in Canada shall be placed on a “Restricted List,” and shall not receive payment while on it.
Over the past weekend, three Oakland Athletics players made it to the list. The Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox will meet again in less than a week but on the other side of the border, and Boston manager Alex Cora already commented that he will not be able to count on some players for that series, although it is not known precisely who they will be apart from Tanner Houck, who is an important loss considering that he was scheduled to open a game in that series.
No Need to be Hypocritical with the Blue Jays
The pandemic wreaked havoc worldwide in many areas and the world of sports was no exception. Some teams had to play behind closed doors for a long time, losing revenue in the process. Others, such as the Toronto Blue Jays, could not even play in their own country.
Being the only Canadian team in MLB meant a problem for the Blue Jays when they closed the borders, so the team had to play the entire shortened 2020 season at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, a city located just over 150 kilometers from Toronto.
2021 was no more benevolent to the Toronto Blue Jays, as they played their games in as many as three different venues. They began the campaign playing in Dunedin, Florida, and when temperatures dropped up north they returned to Buffalo, only to play the final two months of the regular season in their native Toronto at the Rogers Centre. What’s even more surprising? The Blue Jays recorded 91 wins that year and fell just short of qualifying for the postseason.
