The Pinstriped Baseball Lane

The 2020 baseball season is finally here and today will go down in the baseball record books as “Opening Day“. Yes, you read that right, “TODAY IS OPENING DAY!” and what better way to kick-off the long awaited season than having a match-up in the nation’s capital.

The Opening Day competition will take place at Nationals Park and the hype on my end could not be more extreme. I am excited to see what the Yankees will do in this 60 game season. As I have been dedicated to following the New York Yankees for quite some time now, I hope I can maintain my bragging rights against my family and friends that follow other baseball teams.

Just the other day, when I saw my uncle Brad and aunt Lauren, I was being convinced to join the Texas Rangers fanbase. Whether it is over social media or meeting them in person, I can’t run from the fact that Lauren and Brad Kresge of Prodigal Overland will always try their hardest to convince me to trade in my Yankee attire for a Texas Rangers attire. The same scenario can be said for my other relatives and friends, they know who they are, but I will NEVER turn my back on my Yankees.

As this pandemically-fractured season will finally get underway this evening at 7PM, here are the teams’ lineups:

Projected lineup

Nationals: Washington returned most of its roster from 2019, but there were glaring questions in the batting order and on the field following the departure of third baseman Anthony Rendon in free agency. Carter Kieboom, the Nationals’ No. 1 prospect, is expected to man the hot corner and share time there with veteran Asdrúbal Cabrera, especially depending on matchups with the opposing hitters. Starlin Castro and Juan Soto are likely to bat third and fourth in the order, with Trea Turner and Adam Eaton returning as a 1-2 punch at the top.

1) Trea Turner, SS
2) Adam Eaton, RF
3) Starlin Castro, 2B
4) Juan Soto, LF
5) Howie Kendrick, DH
6) Eric Thames, 1B
7) Asdrúbal Cabrera, 3B
8) Kurt Suzuki, C
9) Victor Robles, CF

Starter: RHP Max Scherzer

Yankees: The shutdown allowed the Yankees to get back to full strength — had the season started as scheduled on March 26, they would have been missing several of their big bats and at least one starting pitcher. Instead, New York’s lineup appears to be a juggernaut once more, coming off a season in which it paced the Majors with 942 runs scored while mashing 306 homers — second only to the Twins (307), and the second-most ever slugged by a big league club.

1) DJ LeMahieu, 2B
2) Aaron Judge, RF
3) Gleyber Torres, SS
4) Giancarlo Stanton, DH
5) Aaron Hicks, CF
6) Gary Sánchez, C
7) Luke Voit, 1B
8) Brett Gardner, LF
9) Gio Urshela, 3B

Starter: RHP Gerrit Cole

With these two teams going head-to-head tonight, it should give each organization a pretty good idea of how they will do this season. This match-up should be an epic way to start the season, as you will have the defending World Series champs go up against a 27-time championship organization. Right out of the gate, this should be a heated battle among the two leagues. If I were the Prodigal Overland jeep haulers that could be found on YouTube or any other ball-club fans, I would be paying attention to how these two oppositions play tonight, because they could be potential blocks to your team.