MLB

Yankees ace Tanaka wears surgical mask to airport

Maybe it’s New Jersey’s smog.

New Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka was spotted wearing a surgical mask as he headed for a plane at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on Tuesday evening.

The star pitcher, who just signed a $155 million, seven-year contract with the Bronx Bombers, was believed to be flying to Tampa, Fla., to begin spring training.

Mai Satoda arrives at Teterboro Airport with husband Masahiro Tanaka.David McGlynn

The 25-year-old athlete had been whisked from the swanky Mandarin Oriental hotel in Midtown after 4 p.m. — with his wife, Japanese pop star Mai Satoda, brown toy poodle Haru and a small entourage in tow — to head to the airport.

The group made the short road trip in a chaufeurred black Lincoln Navigator, while another Mercedes van transported their suitcases and boxes of belongings.

They arrived at the airport’s Atlantic Aviation terminal just after 5 p.m.

Tanaka wore the mask as he headed to the aircraft, while Satoda could be seen tottering to it on high heels holding a pink dog carrier with Tanaka’s brown toy poodle, Haru, inside.

It wasn’t clear what plane they were taking.

The pair had chartered an entire 787 jet to fly them to the US from Japan over the weekend.

They rented the aircraft, which can hold up to 186 passengers, for $195,000. Aboard the plane at the time were just Tanaka, Satoda, the pooch and a couple of the pitcher’s handlers.

Earlier Tuesday, a Post reporter asked Tanaka about the ostentatious trip, and he said, “I just wanted to get here in the best condition possible.

“Basically, I was sleeping throughout that flight to New York.”

Additional reporting by Amber Sutherland