Blue Jays' Rowdy Tellez and Mark Budzinski in Standoff With Landlords Over Rent Due to COVID-19

Having an MLB team in Toronto has the ability to create problems that were once unforeseen. Non-essential travel between the United States and Canada is currently not allowed due to COVID-19 and players on the Toronto Blue Jays who were not already in Canada cannot get back into the country.

This has created a situation where those who had agreed to rent apartments cannot even go pick up the keys. Blue Jays first baseman Rowdy Tellez and first base coach Mark Budzinski are in a standoff with their Canadian landlords who are saying the two owe thousands in rent.

This is a tricky situation. Neither Tellez nor Budzinski can get into Canada, but still signed leases worth several thousand dollars per month. Both men are claiming their leases are void, but that doesn't recoup the losses for the landlords, which has been a growing problem across the US as well. How are people supposed to pay rent with no income, and how are landlords expecting people to pay rent on their units when they can't even enter the country?

It's a tough situation all around, but it's more of an indictment on leaders around the world for not solving this issue that has affected millions of people.

One thing that can't be denied is that both Tellez and Budzinski don't look great here when others who are struggling to pay rent still have to write that check every month.