Are Aaron Judge and the Yankees Head Toward a Kyrie Irving Situation?

Unvaccinated New York Mets and New York Yankees players are bound by the same private sector mandate standing in the way of Kyrie Irving playing for the Brooklyn Nets, The Daily News reports while citing a City Hall spokesperson.

The spokesperson cautioned that mandates could shift with the state of the pandemic, but said that the city would not be carving out individual exceptions. The fact that the baseball teams play outside has no bearing on the mandate, the spokesperson said.

Bottom line: unless the mandate changes, unvaccinated members of the Mets and Yankees would not be eligible to play home games, in addition to road games in Toronto.

There are a few weeks until Opening Day. Things in COVID protocol world are shifting rapidly and there's definitely a chance this is a non-issue for the Yankees, who open against Boston at home on Opening Day, and the Mets, who have an April 15 opening home date. If things stay as is, though, there could be some significant impact.

Aaron Judge was just asked by reporters if he is vaccinated and all-clear to take the field when the season begins. Here's how he chose to answer.

"We’ll cross that bridge whenever the time comes,” he said. “So many things could change, so not really too worried about that right now."

Add this to the concern over unvaccinated players being unable to cross over into Canada to play the Toronto Blue Jays.

Potentially something that will be resolved or potentially something that will fester into a huge and divisive story.