The Toronto Blue Jays and NY Yankees are playing live on the MLB Opening Day schedule on Monday and the game from Yankee Stadium is on ESPN and streaming online from the WatchESPN website past 1 pm ET as the season starts and the matchup has Masahiro Tanaka taking on Drew Hutchison to kick off things in New York.
The Yankees come into the game after having a solid spring and while there are a ton of questions, on Opening Day it's all about hope. Tanaka comes in after dealing with an elbow injury last season and he is taking the ball from CC Sabathia, who was the first starter last season. The Yankees come in after winning their last spring training game and now they have A-Rod coming back and hitting seventh on the first day of the season.
Derek Jeter is gone and Didi Gregorius is here as his replacement and the Yankees are hoping that he can do a good job of replacing a legend. Jacoby Ellsbury is hitting leadoff after dealing with an injury earlier in the spring and the Yankee lineup is basically what the team was hoping when they came into the spring. Brett Gardner could be primed for a big season and Chase Headley comes in after signing a deal in the offseason.
Headley will be the primary third baseman and he will be there ahead of A-Rod, as he will get more playing time at DH and at first base. The rotation has some question marks, but it likely will rest on whether Tanaka and Sabathia can stay healthy. The most important player for the Yankees is likely Michael Pineda, as he comes in after having a major spring and the team needs him to stay healthy to keep the rotation tight.
Rodriguez will get some time behind first baseman Mark Teixeira and he performed well there in the spring. A-Rod hit well and had a .267 average with three home runs and that will be big if the team can get that from him this season. A-Rod has been out of action since before last year and he is old, bit he can provide the team some nice pop from the DH position.
The Yankees come in with a younger roster than they have had in years and with Jeter gone along with other players like Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte from past years, the team has new faces and new names that can contribute. David Robertson is gone and Andrew Miller could come in as the new closer and Joe Girardi is starting things off with a closer by committee. Dellin Betances has had a tough spring and the Yankees are hoping that he can get things going once the season starts.
Check here for the Toronto Blue Jays and NY Yankees live coverage.
