According to an announcement made by the team on Sunday, two of the St. Louis Cardinals’ best hitters, Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt, will not play in a series against the Toronto Blue Jays because they need to get vaccinated.
So far this season, Goldschmidt, who is 34, has a batting average of.333, a slash line of.416 and a slugging percentage of.603. He also has the best on-base percentage in all of Major League Baseball. In the National League, he has the best runs, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS, and slugging percentage. Arenado, who is now 31 years old, was chosen for his seventh All-Star game. He has a batting average of.299 and has hit 18 home runs and driven in 59 runs.
With a 51-45 record, St. Louis is in the thick of things when it comes to making the playoffs. The Cardinals are 1.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central. They are also one game ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies in the race for the last National League Wild Card spot.
On Sunday, the Cardinals will play their sixth straight game against the Cincinnati Reds. On Monday, they will travel to Canada to play the Blue Jays. The Toronto Blue Jays are currently 12.5 games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East, but they are also one of the best candidates to win an American League Wild Card spot.
Teams that are going to play in Toronto are required to get their players vaccinated against COVID-19, just like the Toronto Blue Jays are required to get their players vaccinated when they play away games in the U.S. Other players, like J.T. Realmuto of the Philadelphia Phillies and almost the whole starting lineup of the Kansas City Royals, have been ruled out of games in Toronto.
