Tonight at 7:15, the New York Yankees (1-0) will have their second game of the shortened 60 game season. The game will be at Nationals Park home of the World Champion Washington Nationals (0-1). The Yankees won the rain-shortened first game in baseball on Thursday night 4-1 against the World Champs. The Yankees ace Gerrit Cole was the winning pitcher, and the Nats ace Max Scherzer took the loss.
The game tonight will be played under more favorable weather conditions, so we should see a full nine-inning game. The game-time temperature will be in the mid-’80s with partly cloudy skies.
The matchup will see the New York Yankees James Paxton face the Nationals co-ace Stephen Strasburg. What is interesting with the matchup is that neither pitcher has faced each other before. Paxton was 15-6 with an ERA of 3.82. Last season Paxton broke the all-time Yankee record for strikeouts per 9 innings with 11.11Ks per nine. This surpassed the previous record-holder Luis Severino in 2017. The 32-year-old Strasburg was 18-6 with a 3.32 ERA last season.
James Paxton, nicknamed the “Big Maple” is 31 years old and hails from Canada. Previously with the Seattle Mariners, Paxton gained national media attention when a bald eagle, which had been participating in a patriotic pre-game ceremony, flew around and landed on Paxton in 2018. Also, in 2018 Paxton struck out a career-high 16 hitters. On November 19, 2018, Paxton was traded to the Yankees. In April, he became the second only to David Cone to strike out 12 batters in two consecutive starts.
Tonight the New York Yankees will look for Paxton to go five or six innings. Almost a year to the day in 2019 Paxton went eight innings of no-run ball with twelve strikeouts against the Boston Red Sox. Last season the Yankees won six of eight of his first starts. Paxton’s claim to fame last year was that the Yankees won all eleven of this starts as the season came to an end. Last postseason the Yankees won his start against the Twins in the ALDS. Paxton pitched only one game in the ALCS against the Astros, and it was a gem. Paxton went 8 1/3 innings allowing only one run in the Yankee win.
Stephen Strasburg has never pitched against the Yankees as a team. Strasburg is starting his tenth year with the Nationals and has a marvelous career record of 112-58 and an ERA of 3.15. Strasburg is coming off a historic postseason that saw him win all five of his starts. He was named the 2019 postseason MVP.
In summer camp, he has relied primarily on his Fourseam Fastball (92mph) and Curve (80mph), also mixing in a Change (88mph) and Sinker using a Two-seam Fastball grip (92mph). His fastball velocity has reduced from his 2012 high of 96.5 that lead the league since his Tommy John surgery. He has a similar strikeout rate as Paxton.
Neither team has released their lineup for tonight, but it is assumed that both lineups will be similar to Thursday nights game. The Yankees will look to get out early with a lead taking the pressure off Paxton while he settles in. Sunday in a 1 pm start, the Yankees will complete the three games series and then move on to face the Philadelphia Phillies. Yankees Opening Day at Yankee Stadium will be Wednesday against the same Phillies.