The New York Yankees will open the 2020 regular season against the Washington Nationals, and new star pitcher and Gerrit Cole will be the first man up in the rotation to get things kicked off. However, Opening Day could flashback some recent memories that don’t do Cole any favors, specifically from the 2019 World Series.
Cole pitched in two games during the final series of the 2019 campaign, going 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA and six runs allowed. He pitched a total of 14 innings, averaging 7.0 per game and helping Houston to a decent but inevitably disappointing result.
Over the course of the entire postseason run, he went 4-1, allowing 5 earned runs, 4 homers, and striking out 47 batters over 36.2 innings. He was stellar across-the-board, and the Yankees will enjoy the fruits of his tremendous abilities. However, Opening Day will be difficult to stomach against a talented Nationals team that is coming off a World Series victory.
The New York Yankees have the talent to dominate:
Nonetheless, the Bombers have an incredibly talented team as well, with a stacked batting order that consists of multiple premier sluggers. Hopefully, Aaron Judge is prepared to return after spring training 2.0, as reports have indicated that he is already hitting off the tee and will begin live batting in the coming weeks. The Yankees are already on schedule to return both Giancarlo Stanton, James Paxton, and Aaron Hicks. The team would’ve started the 2020 campaign with their entire outfield on injured reserve for the most part, which would have posed a few significant problems.
The shortening of the 2020 season gave them plenty of time to heal and recover, which benefited the team as a whole. This will be Cole’s first game in pinstripes, minus the fourth game starts during spring ball this year.
In limited action, he posted a 7.00 ERA with 10 hits, 7 earned runs, and 13 strikeouts over 9.0 innings. Most of this occurred during a thrashing against the Detroit Tigers, where he allowed 4 homeruns in the span of 2.0 innings. The bright news is, this outing was undoubtedly an anomaly, and we should be excited and optimistic for Cole going into the 2020 season.