MLB Opening Day 2021: Yankees Opening Day predictions

Shall we play a game? Today — weather permitting, alas — the New York Yankees will be taking on the Toronto Blue Jays of Dunedin, with Gerrit Cole on the mound and fans in the seats at Yankee Stadium for the first time since the 2019 playoffs! While the Yankees will be playing a game in the Bronx, let’s play a game here on Pinstripe Alley: give us your best guess and answer these ten questions.

For questions that ask “how many,” we will use blackjack rules: closest without going over gets the credit. If enough people enter, we might send the winner a prize!

(If the game gets rained out, the questions still apply for whenever the first game is played)

1. Which Yankee will get the first hit of 2021?
2. Which Yankee will drive in the first run of 2021?
3. How many batters will Gerrit Cole strike out?
4. Who will be the first reliever that Aaron Boone summons from the bullpen?
5. Who will be the first fielder to record an assist for the Yankees?
6. Which Yankee will hit the first home run of the season?
7. Both Aaron Judge and Toronto starter Hyun Jin Ryu wear No. 99. How will their matchup in the bottom of the first inning end?
8. How many hits will Yankees batters get off Ryu?
9. How many strikeouts will both Cole and Ryu combine for?
10. Who works the first walk of the season?

Bonus question: Predict the final score.

Go on, PSA readers: gaze into your crystal ball, consult your auguries, pull our your ouija boards, observe the movement of the stars and the planets. Will you be the next Nostradamus, or just another pretender?