On March 16, 2020, Canada closed its border to international travelers, with very few exceptions, and even those who were permitted to enter had to undergo a 14-day quarantine. Throughout the 2020 and most of the 2021 baseball seasons, the Toronto Blue Jays played their home games in Dunedin, Florida or Buffalo, New York because it was impossible for visiting teams to enter Canada. On July 30, 2021, some of the restrictions had been lifted and the Blue Jays were finally permitted to host games at the Rogers Center in Toronto.
This
year, Major League Baseball is allowing the Blue Jays to play home games in
Toronto though there are still border restrictions imposed by the Canadian
government. In particular, unvaccinated people may not enter the country. This means that when the Boston Red Sox went
to Toronto, their leadoff hitter and closer had to stay home. Recently the KC Royals had TEN players denied
entry. When the Phillies played a
two-game series in Toronto, Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto could not make the
trip, and the Phillies had to juggle their pitching rotation as well. The Phils lost both games.
MLB’s
decision to allow Toronto to play home games in Canada grants them an enormous
competitive advantage over every other team in baseball since the Jays face
short-handed teams in almost all of their 81 home games. And there is no reason for baseball to allow
this. The Jays’ AAA team has a perfectly
serviceable ballpark in Buffalo that the Jays have been using for most of the
last two years. Playing there would
provide a level playing field for everyone.
The
unfairness of MLB’s position will only get worse the deeper we get into the
2022 season. Toronto currently is on the
bubble for the last playoff spot in the American League. If they make it, beating out a rival by a
game or two in the final standings, their presence in the playoffs will be
regarded by vast numbers of fans as grossly unfair. And then what happens when the Jays have home
playoff games where their opponent cannot field a full squad? The position of MLB on Toronto and its home
games really cannot be defended logically.
It jeopardizes the integrity and the fairness of the sport.
And
yet…. Though the competitive imbalance MLB
has created is the biggest story of this baseball season, you have not really
seen it discussed anywhere, by sportswriters or broadcasters. That is because they view this solely as an
opportunity to display their own virtue in having been vaccinated, and to
create resentment against a few athletes they call “selfish” who, for whatever
reason, have decided not to take the shot.
There
is no other reason for the gleeful reporting that J.T. Realmuto would be docked
$260,000 in salary for missing the two games in Toronto. The amount of money a player makes per game
is rarely reported because it’s not really relevant to anything, but here it
can be used to create hatred against Realmuto in those who don’t make $260,000
in a year, or two years, or five. And it
works. The reaction to Realmuto on line,
and in letters to the Inquirer, has been scathing. Ah, resentment! Ah, envy!
Such noble sentiments.
And
this is also the calculus behind MLB’s otherwise inexplicable decision to allow
Toronto to play home games in Toronto.
Since the League cannot force players to be vaccinated, they are doing
this solely to publicly identify unvaxxed players and invite scorn and abuse
upon them. MLB hopes that the outrage
directed at some players will get them to roll up their sleeves.
Of
course, there is a different way of looking at the decisions of players across
baseball who are losing salary because the Canadian government bars them
entry. They have examined their personal
situation and have made a decision they believe is best for themselves and best
for their families. And if it costs them
money, well, that’s a price they are willing to pay. They are standing on a principle. And in spite of enormous pressure from teams,
from governments, and from public scolds who write articles in newspapers, they
are not backing down.
There
was a time when standing up for one’s principles was regarded as noble. We used to respect the person who bucked the
crowd, or “marched to the beat of a different drummer.” Maybe we even thought he was wrong, but we
respected him anyway for his courage.
But no
more. Instead, we get this strange “be a
good-German” argument from the press.
Why won’t you knuckle under and go with the mob? Why must you question the wisdom of your betters? You can see what this is costing you and yet
you insist on thinking your own thoughts and making your own decisions. Really, Mrs. Parks, why can’t you go to the
back of the bus with the other Negroes?
What the hell is wrong with you???
Apparently,
one aspect of our strange new COVID security state is that actual laws need not
be enforced, but the pronouncements of unelected public health bureaucrats or mayors
exercising previously-unknown “emergency powers” must be obeyed without
question. Otherwise, one is silenced,
vilified in the press and called an “idiot” on sports radio. Forget your silly principles. Go along with the crowd or we will crush you.
Well,
I’m not buying it. Do what you want,
J.T. Believe it or not, there are still
some people who admire you for living your own life and doing what you think is
best.
Copyright2022MichaelKubacki
Posts
