Gary Sánchez tests positive for COVID as Yankees’ situation grows more ridiculous

On Monday, Gerrit Cole tested positive for COVID-19.

On Tuesday, Jordan Montgomery tested positive for COVID-19.

On Wednesday, COVID-19 rested.

Then on Thursday, hours before first pitch of a pivotal Yankees/Mariners Wild Card playoff race showdown, Gary Sánchez tested positive for COVID-19.

This week’s news comes, of course, on the heels of the Yankees’ two previous COVID-19 outbreaks in May, and July. May mostly affected the coaching staff, but July took six players out of commission, including superstar Aaron Judge. Reliever Wandy Peralta only just returned tonight.

I’m normally not a fan of articles that are just a long string of short paragraphs, but what’s happened to the Yankees in 2021 with COVID-19 is absolutely ludicrous. It keeps happening over and over and over again, even though they have a high vaccination rate* and no other team has faced the problem nearly as often. No one’s having as many breakthrough cases as the Yankees. It’s baffling and oh-so-tiring.

*Which has thankfully kept the cases from being serious. Get vaccinated now if you haven’t.

Kyle Higashioka will fill in for Sánchez in the meantime, and Triple-A catcher Rob Brantly is on the roster now to back him up. The hopeful take is that while Sánchez was symptomatic, further testing might reveal that he’s OK. But for now, we just don’t know.