According to a report by Politico’s Sally Goldenberg, New York City Mayor Eric Adams will announce tomorrow that the municipality’s COVID-19 vaccination requirements for professional athletes will be lifted. The news means that unvaccinated Yankees and Mets players who were previously banned from playing home games will no longer be banned from playing at Yankee Stadium or Citi Field, write ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Jeff Passan.
ESPN writes that MLB officials have been contacting City Hall in recent days about the possibility of the Yankees and Mets losing some players in home games. League officials remained optimistic that the situation would eventually be resolved, but Wojnarowski and Passan report that the MLB Players Association recently sent out a memo to agents representing players on these teams about the possible consequences they would face for missing games due to for vaccinations. status.
Under the new collective agreement, this includes lost work time and pay. Right now, this only matters for Toronto, as the Canadian government bans unvaccinated players from entering the country. The Mets won’t be affected, but the Yankees have ten road games against the Blue Jays this season. Unvaccinated players remain banned from these games and will be placed on the restricted list of these competitions.