Yankees dealing with a full-blown COVID outbreak after All-Star break

The New York Yankees start the second half of the MLB season with a coronavirus outbreak amongst their team but are still scheduled to play on Friday.

Coming into the MLB’s second half, the New York Yankees have a lot of work to do.

With a 46-43 record, fourth in the AL East, and 4.5 games back of the final wild card spot, it’s time for New York to flip the switch and start stringing together some wins. They won four of the last six games before the All-Star break, which could be a sign of things turning around for the team.

Unfortunately, the momentum they built before the break could come screeching to a halt, as they are dealing with a coronavirus outbreak that has sidelined some of their key players.

Six Yankee players test positive for COVID-19, but the team is playing on Friday.

On Thursday, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman revealed that three players tested positive for COVID-19, and three others were pending results. It looks like manager Aaron Boone received the additional results, as he told Lindsey Alder of The Athletic that six players have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Jonathan Loaisiga, Nestor Cortes Jr., Wandy Peralta, Kyle Higashioka, Gio Urshela and superstar Aaron Judge are the six players who have COVID-19. According to Cashman, “most” of the six players received a coronavirus vaccine.

Because of the outbreak, New York’s game against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday was postponed until Saturday. However, both teams are scheduled to face each other on Friday night to kick off the second half of the MLB season.

“After conducting testing and contact tracing involving members of the New York Yankees’ organization, the Club’s home game tonight vs. the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium will proceed as scheduled,” said the Yankees on their Twitter account.