Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced Monday afternoon that four players will be placed on the restricted list prior to their two-game series in Toronto on Tuesday, because they are unvaccinated and unable to enter Canada.
All-Star Kyle Schwarber -- who has become a clubhouse leader in Philadelphia -- is vaccinated and traveling for the two-game series against the Blue Jays. However, Schwarber says that those who aren't vaccinated and will miss the two games won't be ostracized in the clubhouse.
"We have each other’s backs," Schwarber said to Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia Monday in St. Louis. "Just because we’re headed to Toronto doesn’t mean someone’s being bad teammate because they didn’t get it."
The Phillies will be without Aaron Nola, Kyle Gibson, J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm against the Blue Jays.
The order of the starting rotation had previously been rearranged so that neither Nola or Gibson was scheduled to pitch during the Toronto series. Gibson pitched Saturday in a win over the Cardinals and Nola will get the ball in the series finale in St. Louis Monday. Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer notes that the Phillies will go with a bullpen game Tuesday night in Toronto. Zack Wheeler is scheduled to start Wednesday.
Replacing your starting catcher and third baseman will be a little more difficult. Matt Gelb of The Athletic notes that Rafael Marchan will be recalled for the Toronto series to be the backup catcher to Garrett Stubbs. Without Bohm -- who is hitting .360 in July -- the Phillies will have to make due at third base with some combination of Matt Vierling, Yairo Muñoz and potentially Bryson Stott.
At 46-40, the Phillies are currently in control of the third Wild Card spot in the National League.
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