Nearly half of the Kansas City Royals will miss the team’s series in Toronto against the Blue Jays this weekend due to Canada’s COVID vaccination policy.
Canada does not allow travelers into the country who have not been vaccinated against COVID. The rule has typically resulted in a few players per visiting team not making the trip to Toronto to face the Blue Jays. Prior to the Royals, the most amount of players a team had miss the trip was four. 25 players in total hadn’t been allowed to make the trip. But the Royals blew everyone out of the water.
We learned on Wednesday that 10 Royals players in total — half the team’s starting lineup and their two best pitchers — won’t be able to make the trip.
The list includes:
– Andrew Benintendi
– Whit Merrifield
– MJ Melendez
– Hunter Dozier
– Michael A. Taylor
– Kyle Isbel
– Cam Gallagher
– Brad Keller
– Brady Singer
– Dylan Coleman
Benintendi, Melendez and Dozier batted 1, 3 and 4 in the team’s most recent game. Isbel batted eighth. Keller and Singer have been the team’s best starting pitchers, while Coleman has been a solid reliever.
The rule will put the Royals at a serious disadvantage in a four-game series against the Jays. KC may effectively be out of the playoff race already, but they won’t even be close to equal footing against Toronto.
Between this situation and what is in store for Novak Djokovic at the US Open, it’s time for countries to update their travel policies to wipe out these outdated policies.
