Tonight will be a historic night for the New York Yankees. It’s Opening Day 2020 at Yankee Stadium. Historic in many ways. The first time Opening Day has been on July 31, the first time in a worldwide coronavirus pandemic, and add to that, it is an Opening Day against the traditional rivals Boston Red Sox with no fans in the stands.
With the pandemic, many team teams have infected players and some with general outbreaks. So far, both the Red Sox and the New York Yankees have remained relatively untouched by the virus. Many Yankee fans thought this day would never come. But here it is, and Yankee fans will relish in the Opening Day ceremonies that will start at 6 pm on the YES Network.
The Yankees are coming off of a series win with the World Champion Washington Nationals and a series sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. It will be a perfect night for baseball at the Stadium. It will be in the seventies with mostly clear skies and relatively low humidity—just a perfect night for baseball in the Bronx.
The New York Yankees will start Jordan Montgomery in its first home game of the season tonight. Montgomery will be this season’s fifth starter in the pitching rotation that will see no Luis Severino (Tommy John surgery) and no Domingo German due to serving the remainder of his suspension.
Montgomery pitched very well in spring training and the delayed summer camp at Yankee Stadium. “Monty” pitched in only two games last year coming back from Tommy John surgery. The offseason and delayed start of this season has allowed him to regain full strength and be near the top of his game. Tonight will be his 2020 major league debut as he will look for his first win of the season.
The New York Yankees will face the Red Sox’s Ryan Weber in the game. This will be Weber’s second start of the season. He posted a 14.73 ERA in his loss of a game against the Baltimore Orioles last week. This will be Weber’s first start against the Yankees; he has made three appearances in relief against the Yankees with an ERA of 2.83 in six innings of work.
Last year in his first year with the Red Sox, he went 2-4 with a 5.09 ERA in eighteen games, three of them starts. This year in his only start, he lasted 3.2 innings giving up six earned runs. The 29-year-old Weber is a native of St. Petersburg, Florida. In his career, he has been with the Phillies, Braves, Mariners, and Tampa Bay Rays before declaring free agency and signing with the Red Sox.
Red Sox pitching is in sad shape this year after losing David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Eduardo Rodriguez to the coronavirus. The only holdover in the rotation from their winning 2018 season is Nathan Eovaldi. Two of the 2018 stars, Chris Sale to surgery and Rick Porcello has gone to the New York Mets.
After tonight the Yankees will face the Red Sox in games on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, Masahiro Tanaka coming back from being hit in the head by a comebacker from Giancarlo Staton in summer camp. He will face Red Sox righty Zack Godley. On Sunday, James Paxton will get the ball against a pitcher yet to be determined.
Prediction: Yankees 6 Red Sox 3.
EmpireSportsMedia.com’s Columnist William Parlee is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research. Follow me on Twitter @parleewilliam.