Yankees ace Gerrit Cole tests positive for COVID-19, will miss Tuesday's start

The New York Yankees will be without their ace on Tuesday and likely beyond.

Gerrit Cole tested positive for COVID-19 and will not make his scheduled start on Tuesday, manager Aaron Boone told reporters on Monday.

"Gerrit will not be pitching tomorrow. He's actually tested positive for COVID, so he will not be pitching tomorrow," Boone said. He also confirmed that Cole was the only Yankee player to test positive so far.

Under MLB's current COVID-19 protocols, players who test positive are required to isolate for a minimum of 10 days. It is unclear when Cole actually tested positive.

The news interrupts an up-and-down but overall strong season from the Yankees' $324 million man. He holds a 3.11 ERA and league-leading 176 strikeouts in 130.1 innings, but has struggled in recent months, and it's not hard to guess why.

Since the MLB started cracking down on sticky substances in late June, Cole, a known user of such substances, holds a 4.87 ERA in seven starts. A lack of sticky stuff may not be the sole reason he's struggling, but it's a change that is impossible to ignore, and a positive COVID-19 test obviously isn't going to help things.

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