MLB canceled the home opener between the Washington Nationals and the New York Mets on April 1 because of “COVID-19 issues.”
What’s worse is that the league would not allow the two teams to make up the game on Friday, April 2, leaving thousands of fans in the lurch. It raises the question: Why weren’t all MLB players vaccinated before the start of the season?
Naturally, part of it is the players union’s fault that it has taken the side of players who are wary of receiving the vaccine. It is also likely that many players were not “eligible” to get a vaccine because of absurd state rollout rules, many of which have tilted toward “equity” as a means of prioritization.
It’s easy to see how some would scoff at the notion of healthy and wealthy baseball players getting vaccines ahead of grocery store workers or other front-line workers. However, players’ salaries don’t take into account the domino effect a canceled game has on other people.
Players making millions of dollars will still get their money. What about food vendors, parking attendants, ticket takers, security guards, memorabilia vendors, and maintenance staff? When games get canceled, these workers likely don’t have a large bank account to tap into to hold them over for a day or two.
MLB lost over 100 games last season, with teams playing a shortened season in a handful of parks with no crowds. Everyone thought 2021 would be different. As more people get vaccinated, the higher the capacity limits go, and fans have prepared to watch and follow a 162-game schedule.
Forget equity. Prioritize professional sports teams. And if players refuse to get the vaccine? They don’t play. They can take up their case with arbitrators during the offseason, but nothing stands in the way of teams from keeping unvaccinated players off the field.
The impact of canceling games in any professional sport goes beyond the fans sitting at home watching on television. People in the United States want to get back to work, even if it’s a job that requires yelling, “Get your ice-cold beer here!”
Get players vaccinated, and then put them in, coach.
—by Jay Caruso
