"I will continue to say get vaccinated" - NYC Mayor Eric Adams clears unvaccinated New York Yankees and New York Mets players to play home games

The New York Yankees and New York Mets can breathe a sigh of relief. The newly-elected mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, has exempted professional athletes and entertainers from the Covid-19 vaccine requirement. New York City previously had some of the harshest vaccine mandates in North America. With these lifted, players are now free to play games in the city of New York.

This comes as a surprise. Mayor Eric Adams was seemingly not going to allow mandate exceptions. They mandates extended beyond MLB. NBA star Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets has been unable to play home games this season. Like the Nets, the Yankees have a lot of fans in the city. It makes sense that this announcement comes just a couple of weeks before MLB Opening Day for the New York Yankees and New York Mets.

Jon Heyman reported via a tweet that a press conference confirming this exemption will be held today.

"Press conference at Citi Field this morning for NYC Mayor Eric Adams to issue an exemption for athletes and entertainers to be exempt from the private sector vaccine mandate, clearing the way for unvaccinated Mets and Yankees to play home games. Kyrie too." - @ Jon Heyman

New York Yankees and New York Mets will be at full strength for Opening Day 2022

Mets celebrating victory against the Yankees

As both New York teams reportedly have some key players who are currently unvaccinated, this exemption paves the way for both teams to be firing on all cylinders at home in 2022. As we come into what should be a competitive season for both the New York Yankees and New York Mets, a lack of key players key in the lineup could have radically changed their success levels.

The New York Yankees aren't fully out of the woods, as Canadian mandates are still in place. Unvaccinated players will not be allowed to play on the road against division rival Toronto Blue Jays. While this is a drawback and will make the race for the American League East even more interesting, the Yankees have to be happy with where things currently stand.

A Toronto-based blog contextualized what this could mean for the 2022 MLB season on Twitter.

"The Blue Jays are coming back but unvaxxed players won't be welcome in Toronto" - @ BlogTO

As the New York Yankees and New York Mets quietly celebrate having their roster at full strength for the majority of the 2022 season, their fans rejoice openly because at the end of the day, we all just want to watch winning baseball.