Tonight the New York Yankees will face their first MLB team of this summer camp in preparation for the Yankees opening day next Thursday. Yes, it’s finally here the Yankees get to meet another team in this drastically shortened coronavirus baseball season.
The Yankees have seen the spring training shut down, seen a divisive set of baseball negotiations between the owners and players. They have seen a strange summer camp with players wearing masks and Yankee fans missing from the stands. All this caused by a serious COVID-19 virus infection that has killed over 140 thousand Americans. Even baseball players across the country have been infected by the insidious virus, but through all of this baseball has found a way to return to American baseball fans.
Tonight the New York Yankees will face their crosstown rival New York Mets at Citi Field in the Queens. It will be the first interleague meeting of summer camp. The game tonight will be televised on the YES Network and will start at approximately 7:10 pm. Michael King will start for the Yankees, and newly acquired Rick Porcello will start for the New York Mets.
Michael King has performed well in both the spring training and the summer camp. King is a pitching prospect for the Yankees and has been in the Yankee system since 2018 coming from the Florida Marlins organization. In his minor league career, he is 28-19 with an ERA of 2.93. He was in one major league game last year in a 2 inning no-decision game. The Yankees see King as one of the brightest. He may well appear in the starting rotation this season if there are injuries.
Rick Porcello was acquired by the Mets during this offseason from the Boston Red Sox. Many feel that Porcello’s best years are behind him. He was a successful pitcher for the Detroit Tigers for six years before becoming a Red Sox. For the Sox, he has been a mixed bag winning 22 games in 2016 but also had two losing seasons in his five-year stint with the Sox. Both teams will be watching their starters intently as they may have an impact on this short season.
After tonight’s game, the Mets will take the subway across town to play another game against the Yankees, this one at the Stadium. In the game, the Mets Cory Oswalt will face the Yankee Jordan Montgomery. On Monday, the Philadelphia Phillies will travel to Yankee Stadium for a 6:05 pm game. All three of these games will be televised on the YES Network.
Next Thursday in the first game of the MLB season, the New York Yankees Gerrit Cole will face the Washington National’s Max Scherzer in MLB’s opening day. Later in the evening the Los Angeles Dodgers will meet the San Francisco Giants. Opening day for the rest of MLB will be the following day, July 24th.