With just eight days until Opening Day, the New York Yankees are gearing up for a condensed 60 game season.
A short campaign comes with a lot of problems, including injury concern and fatigue. Limiting those factors is essential.
The starting pitching rotation will be a focal point, and with Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, Jordan Montgomery, J.A. Happ all available, the Yankees have plenty of fire-power to excel.
Opening day on July 23 against the Washington Nationals will be a historic moment. The shut down of major league baseball for several months and its subsequent return has been one for the history books, and for the Yankees, the are relying on Cole to start them off on a high note.
Cole landed a $324 million deal over nine years this off-season, and he will serve as the Yankees’ ace moving forward. He will face off against Max Scherzer to start off an exciting season.
Scherzer is the lead arm for the Nationals, who posted a 2.92 ERA in 2019, ranking third in Cy Young voting. He will be a tough challenge for the Yankees, who continue to develop with every intrasquad exhibition game.
Luckily, the Yankees have seen significant improvement from players like Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres, and Aaron Judge. Judge, who has been battling a stiff neck since the weekend, is expected to return in the coming days and offer his services in right field to start the season. Having the entire outfield back is a huge development for the team, and they still have the necessary depth in Brett Gardner and Clint Frazier to supplement any injuries.
Defeating Scherzer will be no easy feat for the Yankees, who has pitched sub-3.00-ERA baseball over the last five seasons. He’s also won the Cy Young award twice in the past four years and ranked no higher than third in voting. He has been an All-Star for seven straight seasons and been a top 25 MVP candidate.
Gerrit Cole comes with his own accolades, though. In the last two seasons, he has posted sub-2.88-ERA baseball with two All-Star appearances and two top-five Cy Young considerations.
This will be a fantastic matchup that will hopefully bring the best out of both pitchers. For the sake of the Yankees, it will take a lot to extract a win out of this game, but they have the talent to do so.