James Karinchak only Cleveland Guardian that won’t make trip to Toronto

The Cleveland Guardians are now in sole possession of the AL Central division entering Thursday’s action and have a big weekend series against the Blue Jays looming on the weekend horizon.

But reliever James Karinchak won’t be making the trip to Canada.

Due to Canada’s regulations involving visitors having the COVID vaccine, Karinchak, who isn’t vaccinated, won’t be able to play in the three-game series. Every team playing the Blue Jays in Toronto has had to deal with this, and it’s been a bigger point of contention for some than others; think back to the Royals, who lost nearly their entire team when they played the Blue Jays on the road earlier this season.

Rookie Peyton Battenfield, who has a 3.19 ERA in 21 starts at Triple-A Columbus and could very well contend for a spot in the rotation next season, will be called up to take Karinchak’s spot on the roster.

Karinchak, 26, will be sorely missed out of the bullpen. Since coming off the IL due to an upper back strain and joining the team in early July, he’s been a huge boost to the pen, posting a tiny 1.84 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings this season. Best of all, Karinchak has cut down on the walks and has seemingly regained the control that made him such a dynamite reliever in 2019 and 2020.

If Karinchak can continue building on this success and buckling batters’ knees with that 12-to-6 curveball, the Guardians’ postseason chances just got that much better. They’ll just have to make do without their fiery setup man (at least he would appear to be in that role these days) for the weekend.