The competition against the Phillies, Rays, Red Sox, and other teams have been canceled. The delay on the spring games due to COVID-19 can affect the work schedules of the Yankee pitchers. 2022 marked the second season that was delayed by COVID-19, and this delay doesn’t make it any better for the team members because their training will be outdated. The players would have a challenge following up with the big leagues. Jameson Taillon asks, “If the goal is to get players on the field ASAP, then why did it take 43 days after the lockout to even hear from MLB?”
The fans who purchased tickets for the Major League Baseball games will be refunded. Some people were not surprised because they suspected the cancellation. At this time, there were three Yankee players who received positive results for COVID. These players, Jonathan Loaisiga, Nestor Cortes and Wandy Peralta, were previously vaccinated. The Yankees are continuing on taking the COVID tests frequently with reports on contact tracing.
On another note, players like Luis Severino and Aaron Hicks still need to catch up with the Big Leagues because they had limited timing on the spring training games. A particular baseball fan pointed out that the workload has decreased. The workload for pitchers decreased from 5.18 innings pitched to 4.73. This is due to the previous season that pitchers had less time on the field to adapt to the pandemic’s restrictions. In 2020, they had four active pitchers. It was a huge decrease compared to having 15 pitchers back in 2019. With the workload decreasing for pitchers to sustain safety during the pandemic, the players are questioning how to continue their livelihoods through these games.
