The New York Yankees will face off against the Washington Nationals on Saturday evening in game two of the 2020 regular season. The pitching matchup will include James Paxton and Stephen Strasburg.
After a wholesome victory over Washington in what ended up being a rain delay official game, the Yankees will head into their next contest with a bit more confidence.
Here are the three reasons for New York Yankees fans to get excited:
1.) Giancarlo Stanton is healthy
The season couldn’t have started better for Giancarlo Stanton, who ripped a home run in the first thing to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. He had two hits on the night, striking out once. After battling a calf injury for the majority of spring training 1.0, Stanton looks to be in shape and back to his normal self. While he hasn’t been taking many defensive reps, his bat is the most influential part of his game, and having him in the lineup is a huge boost.
2.) Yankees Baseball is back!
Well, there’s no better reason to be excited than the fact that baseball is back! After the MLB shut down operations months ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rules and regulations were put forth to ensure the safety of the players. It took a bit longer than most would hope for the MLB and MLBPA to come together and find a resolution on their differences, but Opening Day was a huge step forward toward their resolve.
We managed to escape the first game with a mere rain situation, which is the least of our problems at this point.
3.) The weather report looks good!
While the New York Yankees won 4-1 due to a rainout, Saturday’s game is projected to be much more enjoyable. The weather report in Washington projects 91° and sunny. Vastly different than the lightning storm that rolled through in the sixth inning.
The Yankees will be featuring their lefty in Paxton, who is coming off a significant surgery this past off-season. He proved in 2019 that he could be relied on, but Stephen Strasburg is a fantastic pitcher with elite stuff. They will need all of their offensive weapons to overcome the fifth-ranked player in CY Young voting last year.