Due to New York City’s vaccine mandates and his vaccination status, we’ve seen Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving unable to play in home games. Based on the way he answered a question about his vaccination status, New York Yankees star Aaron Judge may have a similar issue when baseball season starts in April.
Here’s what we know. New York’s vaccine mandate remains in effect, despite the calls for Mayor Eric Adams to repeal it, . We also know that unless it is lifted, the same mandate will apply to members of the Yankees and New York Mets. It would prohibit them from playing in all home games and road games in the other New York stadium, as well road games against the Toronto Blue Jays thanks to Canada’s own vaccine mandates. For a member of the Yankees, that’s 93 games.
So, how does that relate to Judge? We don’t know if it does or not. The mandates that would keep the unvaccinated Yankees and Mets were not put into place until December, well after the 2021 season ended. But when Judge was asked about his vaccination status on Tuesday, his answer was vague.
#Yankees Aaron Judge was just asked if he’s vaccinated and here is how he responded pic.twitter.com/guXUqm4DHX
— Randy Miller (@RandyJMiller) March 15, 2022
We must point out that Judge didn’t say that he wasn’t vaccinated. But he also didn’t say that he was. With that in mind, we can only speculate on what he meant and what his status is.
This could simply be a matter of Judge feeling that it’s a private matter. Not everyone wants to discuss his or her vaccination status publicly. But if that was the case, we figure he’d probably say something like that. This was vague. And while we hate to read minds, when we hear “so many things could change,” it sure feels like he’s talking about the vaccine mandates.
Assuming that’s all true, two questions come to mind.
One, will this hinder his contract extension talks? Judge is set to be a free agent at the end of the season, and has made it known that he wants to remain a Yankee. It feels unlikely this will do much to hinder those talks. Even the places that have had the most strict COVID-19 mandates are easing their mask and vaccination rules. If Judge is not vaccinated and can’t play in games this season, that wouldn’t help his contract talks, but don’t bet on it being a serious impenetrable roadblock.
Two, will it hurt the Yankees this season? That’s far more possible.
We may be on our way to seeing the vaccine mandate in New York lifted. But how soon will that happen? Let’s assume it’s lifted on May 7, one month into the regular season.
In the first month of the season, the Yankees have 13 home games and three more in Toronto. That’s 16 games that any unvaccinated player on the team would be ineligible for. On the surface, 16 out of 162 games may not feel like much. But consider 2021’s standings.
In 2021, the Yankees were the bottom seed in the American League Playoffs, finishing with a 92-70 record. That was only one game ahead of the Blue Jays, who were the first team out. Under the new postseason qualification rules, Toronto would have qualified and the Seattle Mariners would have been the first team out. The Yankees were only two games ahead of the Mariners and only six ahead of the Oakland Athletics.
Furthermore, the Yankees were only eight games behind the Tampa Bay Rays, who not only won the American League East but were the top seed in the Junior Circuit.
On one hand, 16 of 162 games is just under one-tenth of the season. It doesn’t feel like that much. On the other, despite so many games, a division race being decided by five games is considered lopsided. Also remember that 13 of those 16 games are against AL East opponents.
So, even if the vaccine mandate is lifted in the early weeks of the season, the games that Judge (assuming he’s not vaccinated) or any other unvaccinated players would miss could loom large. If it takes longer for the mandate to get lifted or if we see even another mini spike in COVID numbers, the impact of not having those guys would only loom larger.
[Randy Miller on Twitter; photo from Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports]
