Multiple Unvaccinated Red Sox (Including Houck) Will Not Be Allowed Into CanadaFor Next Week's Four-Game Series Against The Blue Jays

When the Red Sox begin an important four-game series against the Blue Jays in Toronto on April 25 (one week from today), they will be without multiple players, according to manager Alex Cora.

One of those missing players will be pitcher Tanner Houck, who told the Globe on Sunday that he will not accompany the team across the border because he is not vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. Houck was expected to start the second game of the series. 

Houck did not give a reason for being unvaccinated beyond the nonsensical "it's a personal choice". It's also Houck's "personal choice" to be too much of a chickenshit to explain why he is unvaccinated and unable to help his teammates battle an extremely tough division opponent. ("That's all I really got to say on it.") This situation has nothing to do with medical privacy. When someone refuses to say why he won't take a safe, preventative step to not contract, or not infect others with, a deadly virus, it's often because they understand they would sound batshit crazy to most people.

Houck, who has given up eight hits and six walks in nine innings this season, said:

I'm definitely bummed that I won't be able to make that start. But the starts that I am able to make, I plan on giving 100 percent for this team, if not moreso. Anything I can do for this team to help them win, I'll do it.

I hope very few Red Sox fans are stupid enough to believe this horseshit. Houck pretends the decision to pitch or not pitch is completely out of his control – he's simply unable to pitch, what a bummer – when, obviously, the truth is the opposite. The choice is entirely his – it belongs to no one else.

Houck is lying (and lying very badly) when he claims he of course would do "anything" for his teammates. The only reason Houck is forced to lie and say he'll do "anything" is because he won't do "anything". He has refused to take one simple step for his teammates – a step so simple that five-year-old kids are doing it without batting a fucking eye.

As the Globe notes, the Canadian government requires everyone entering the country to show proof of a second dose of an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least 14 calendar days prior to entry.

Cora did not name the other players, all of whom will be placed on the restricted list for the series.

The Red Sox's other trip to Toronto will be for the season's penultimate series: September 30-31 and October 1.