Mariners' Robbie Ray Does Not Accompany Mariners to Toronto

He won't be missing a start, since he just took the mound yesterday, but it's clear now that Robbie Ray, who won a Cy Young Award for the Toronto Blue Jays last year, is a second unvaccinated Seattle Mariners pitcher, and will not be showing his face in the city he called home the previous two seasons.  

Manager Scott Servais confirms that Robbie Ray also didn’t join the team in Canada.

— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) May 16, 2022

Ray did not make the trip to Toronto, as confirmed by Mariners manager Scott Servais, and though he doesn't say why, if he's unvaccinated he would be ineligible to pitch at Rogers Centre without first quarantining for 14 days upon crossing the Canada-U.S. border. But the Mariners obviously arranged their rotation in such a way that he wouldn't be slated to pitch in this series, and therefore not being available to travel with the team is a moot point. 

Servais had mentioned last week that there were "a couple" of players who would be affected by their vaccination status for the series in Toronto. 

As pointed out by many Blue Jays observers, it's unusual for a defending Cy Young winner to not address the media in his first trip back to the team he won it with. 

Mariners manager Scott Servais confirmed that Robbie Ray didn't make the trip. It would be unusual to skip any trip, let alone to the city he won a Cy Young award with. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Unvaccinated travelers are still required to quarantine

— Gregor Chisholm (@GregorChisholm) May 16, 2022

If he's not placed on the restricted list, as was his active and available teammate for this trip, he would avoid being docked any of his substantial pay for the days he's away from the team. No word yet on this aspect of Ray's absence. 

Ray signed a 5-year, $115M contract with Seattle in the offseason, and it's now becoming a bit more clear why the Blue Jays chose to pursue and sign Kevin Gausman to a similar contract, rather than bring Ray back. 

Photo Credit: Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports