As confirmed by WFAN's Carton & Roberts team, unvaccinated Yankees and Mets will not be able to play home games for the time being, thanks to the same mandates that are keeping Kyrie Irving away from the Nets.
The mandate, put in place in December by previous New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, says that workers for private employers with one or more employees in NYC must have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to be allowed to work, and partially vaccinated workers who fail to provide proof of their second dose within 45 days of providing proof of their first dose are to be excluded from the workplace until they provide proof of a second dose or submit a request for accommodation.
New NYC Mayor Eric Adams repealed the indoor space vaccine mandate earlier this month – which is how Irving was able to enter Barclays Center on Sunday – but has not yet done anything to repeal the workplace mandate.
It is not exactly known how many Mets or Yankees, or which ones, are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, but when discussing a similar mandate in place for Canada, Jon Heyman tweeted Sunday that “the Yankees would miss a chunk of the middle of their order if unvaccinated players can’t play in Toronto.”
Canada’s travel restrictions prevent unvaccinated individuals from entering the country, so any team with unvaccinated players will see those players placed on the restricted list for road trips to Toronto, and they will not accrue service time or be paid.
Aaron Judge, who is rumored to be unvaccinated, was asked point blank about the mandate on Tuesday, and responded by saying, “I’m so focused on getting through the first game of spring training, so we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes. So many things can change, that I’m not really too worried about that right now.”
The Mets, meanwhile, never hit the 85 percent vaccination threshold MLB implemented to loosen COVID protocols, so they may be heavily affected as well.
Kevin Durant spoke out about the mandates after Sunday’s situation at Barclays Center, particularly noting the hypocrisy that unvaccinated players on opposing teams are able to play in NYC.
Follow WFAN's afternoon team on Twitter: @CartonRoberts, @EvanRobertsWFAN, @TommyLugauer, and @CMacWFAN
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