New York will officially relax their vaccine mandate this week. This means that athletes as well as entertainers will be allowed to perform in the state regardless of vaccination status, per Shams Charania. The update comes at a critical time for the Nets, Yankees, and Mets. Brooklyn will have Kyrie Irving eligible for games during their upcoming postseason run and the Mets and Yankees will have all players available entering Opening Day. 

However, the vaccine mandate very well could have ruined the Yankees and Mets seasons had it still been intact after Opening Day.

The Mets

A recent article from the Washing Post declared that only 55 percent of the Mets roster was vaccinated at one point last season. Outfielder Brandon Nimmo addressed the looming mandate issue in the same article prior to it being resolved on Wednesday.

“I don’t know where we are now — we have many new guys. I do know one thing: [A mandate] would affect baseball a lot more than it did basketball, so we’ll see where we’re at.”

Nimmo did not share his vaccination status. But his statement rings true. There is a very good chance that the team would have been drastically affected by the mandate had it forced players to miss home games.

The Yankees

The Yankees might have lost some key players due to the mandate as well. MLB insider John Heyman of MLB Network reported that the Yankees had three unvaccinated players “at last count.” He was obviously unable to share who the unvaccinated players were.

Superstar Aaron Judge's eligibility for the season was in question due to speculation that he was unvaccinated. However, trusting in speculation is never a good idea and the fact is that his status is not known. But Judge shared this response when asked about his vaccination status.

“I think we’ll cross that bridge whenever the time comes, but right now so many things could change so I’m not really too worried about that.”

Sure enough, he will not need to worry about it.

The Yankees, Mets, and Nets will all be at full strength from a vaccination perspective moving forward. This is game-changing news that could lead Brooklyn to a deep postseason run while keeping the Mets and Yankees competitive throughout the upcoming MLB season.

 

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