By Owen Russell
As Opening Day creeps forward, uncertainty continues to loom over some of Major League Baseball’s brightest. Unvaccinated players for the New York Mets and Yankees will be unable to participate in home games this season, as New York City still operates under a vaccine requirement for private-sector employees, including professional athletes.
Since 2020, MLB has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, starting with a surreal 60-game season. Then, in 2021, numerous players missed chunks of time due to health and safety protocols.
And yet, coming into the 2022 season, MLB and their fans continue to suffer from major COVID-19 fatigue. While fans in New York City unmask and enjoy a somewhat normal life, the vaccine requirement is a reminder that “normal” is a relative term.
So far, both the Yankees and Mets are staying tight-lipped on anything even remotely vaccine-related. In a recent statement to The Athletic, Yankees slugger Aaron Judge seemingly danced around the question.
“I’m so focused on getting to the first game of spring training. So I think we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes,” Judge said. The 29-year-old has been notoriously dodgy about the vaccine going all the way back to July 2021, when in a press conference, he said, “I’m not going to get into that.”
As of last year, the Yankees were one of the first teams to meet MLB’s 85% vaccine requirement for loosened regulations, but have not specified which players received the jab.
In Queens, Mets players are staying just as vague as their rivals in the Bronx.
“Right now we’re still three and half weeks away, so a lot can happen,” said Mets outfielder and union representative Brandon Nimmo to the New York Post.
While the vaccine requirement may shock some of baseball’s fan base, New Yorkers are all too acquainted with the rule. In the NBA, point guard Kyrie Irving has been unable to play home games for the Brooklyn Nets because of his unvaccinated status. Though he is barred from stepping on the court and suiting up, Irving was able to buy a courtside ticket and sit in the Barclays arena.
Now with COVID restrictions continuing to loosen, New York athletes hope for a significant change.
“Hopefully logic prevails,” Mets pitcher Max Scherzer told the Post.
It is clear where New York’s star athletes stand on the issue, but where is Mayor Eric Adams in all of this? In a recent press conference, Adams told the media, “We’re going to peel it [the vaccine mandate] back.”
Adams has already done away with vaccine requirements for fans attending sporting events. Though the mayor seems content to end vaccine mandates, he is not going to bow to anyone in the sports world.
“I’m not going to be rushed in based on a season schedule,” Adams said. Eric Adams took office in January of this year, inheriting these COVID policies that were created by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
While millionaire athletes battle career politicians over two-needle pricks, New Yorkers are left wondering when life will feel normal again. If there will ever be a day when the sports section isn’t dominated by headlines referring to sickness and death, and though baseball seems to be trending upwards, reality looms just overhead, reminding fans and players alike: We’re not out of the pandemic yet.