By Jacob Calvin Meyer - The Washington Times - Tuesday, March 15, 2022

The Kyrie Irving club may be gaining some members.

The New York Post reported on Tuesday that unvaccinated Mets and Yankees players are subject to the same COVID-19 rules keeping Irving sidelined for Nets home games. 

The MLB regular season doesn’t begin until April 7. The teams’ unvaccinated players would be able to play in road games, but due to the city’s vaccine rules for employees, they would be ineligible to play at Yankee Stadium or Citi Field. The Yankees open their season with a series in New York against the Red Sox, while the Mets kick off 2022 with a series in Washington, D.C., versus the Nationals. 

The situation is the same as the one Irving, who is unvaccinated, is dealing with as a member of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, as the city’s ordinance doesn’t separate indoor and outdoor workplaces. New York City mayor Eric Adams recently said on CNBC that “it would send the wrong message” to have an exception for Irving — and presumably the Yankees and Mets players. Irving has missed all 36 of the Nets’ home games this season. 

“I have to follow the rules,” Adams said. “And trust me, I want Kyrie on the court. We are here right now opening our city because of vaccine mandates. We can’t close down again.”

Irving over the weekend attended two games at the Barclays Center — a Duke college game on Saturday and a Nets contest versus the Knicks on Sunday. He went viral on Twitter on both days for sitting courtside — maskless, as allowed by the city’s rules for spectators — in the same arena he’s banned from playing. The image caused outrage by many online, confused how the policies make any sense. 

LeBron James tweeted about Irving’s situation, saying it “makes absolutely zero sense.” Even Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah ripped the rules on his show Monday night. 

“I don’t care how COVID compliant you are. S*** like this makes zero sense,” Noah said. 

Last season, the Mets were one of six MLB teams to not reach the 85% vaccination mark that would have eased protocols for the club. The Yankees, meanwhile, had multiple COVID-19 outbreaks during the season and had several unvaccinated players.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Sunday that he was concerned about the COVID-19 rules in Canada that prohibits unvaccinated players from traveling to play the Blue Jays in Toronto. The Yankees first travel to Toronto for a series that starts on May 2. 

“It will be interesting, to say the least, how that situation unfolds,” Boone said Sunday. “I think we still have a few guys at least that aren’t vaccinated, so we’ll be monitoring that situation closely and see how that plays out. But yeah, it’s a concern.”

“It’s definitely a personal decision,” Boone added about the vaccine. “Now, if it’s something that becomes an issue, yeah I would have conversations with guys. But, ultimately, it’s something that I do look at as a personal choice.”

• Jacob Calvin Meyer can be reached at jmeyer@washingtontimes.com.

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