Report: NYC to lift vaccine mandate, allowing Yankees-Mets players to play at home

Update, March 23 — Yankees and Mets players will be allowed to play in home games this season after New York City announced it will lift the vaccine mandate for private sector employees on Thursday.

The New York Yankees and New York Mets players who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 would be ineligible to play homes games, a city spokesperson told the New York Daily News on Tuesday. This is due to the current mandate set in place in NYC, which is preventing Brooklyn Nets PG Kyrie Irving from playing in home games still. It has more to do with them being private sector employees.

Now, we don’t know how much this will impact either team. The Mets didn’t reach the 85 percent threshold from last season for unvaccinated players. This was also before the New York City mandate. The Yankees are reportedly in danger of missing some of their core players who may be unvaccinated. There are rumors Aaron Judge is one of them and could be held out if this is the case.

You’d think there’s a chance both teams convince players to get vaccinated based off of this mandate. There’s also the chance that the City of New York can lift the mandate, allowing players to play. The fact that baseball games are outside apparently has no bearing on this decision. The Yankees and Mets unvaccinated players would also be ineligible to play in Toronto against the Blue Jays.

The Yankees home opener is on Opening Day, April 7, against the Boston Red Sox. The Mets don’t play at home until April 15.