Under the current New York City mandate regarding private-sector employers, unvaccinated players for the Yankees and Mets will not be able to play home games this season. The same COVID-19 mandate that Kyrie Irving and the NBA's Brooklyn Nets have been navigating during the ongoing season also applies to outdoor venues such as Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and Citi Field in Queens, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News writes.
The relevant mandate was enacted in late December by Bill DiBlasio's Administration, and it requires that in-person workers for any New York City-based business receive one of the COVID-19 vaccines in order to continue that in-person work. As of yet Mayor Eric Adams, DiBlasio's successor, has not moved to repeal it (Adams, however, has lifted other mandates related to the virus). A city spokesperson told Bondy that "mandates could shift with the state of the pandemic, but said that the city would not be carving out individual exceptions."
Unvaccinated MLB players are already barred from playing games in Toronto, and the Blue Jays share the AL East with the Yankees. In terms of the worst-case scenarios, unvaccinated Yankees players would miss 92 games this season, while unvaccinated Mets players would miss 83 games.
While it's not precisely known which players are unvaccinated, Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge is widely believed to be among them. Here's how he responded on Tuesday when asked if he's been vaccinated against COVID-19:
NJ.com also reported Tuesday that two Yankees remain unvaccinated.
The Mets are also known to have fallen short of the 85 percent vaccination threshold laid out by MLB last season -- the level required for a team to enjoy loosened restrictions.
Regarding the Mets and Yankees and the challenge posed by the mandate:
More context:
The Yankees open the 2022 regular season at home on April 7 against the Red Sox. The Mets' home opener is April 15 against the Diamondbacks.
