Last November, the Canadian government announced that professional athletes who had not been vaccinated against COVID-19 would not be permitted to enter the country to participate in games hosted there. That’s obviously of some import to Major League Baseball, which has one Canadian-based team.
Unvaccinated players won’t be able to travel to Toronto, and they obviously won’t be able to participate in any games at the Rogers Centre. They’ll apparently not be compensated for those missed contests. Duke Castiglione of WCVB reports (on Twitter) that the league and Players Association agreed in today’s CBA that players won’t receive either salary or service time for any games missed on account of vaccination status.
MLB does not have a vaccination mandate for players. It did, however, take steps to encourage vaccination last season, loosening health and safety protocols for teams with at least an 85% vaccination rate of Tier 1 personnel (a group that includes players, coaches, training staff, etc.). 24 of the league’s 30 clubs eventually hit that 85% threshold last year.
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