New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants: Gerrit Cole vs. Logan Webb

It has been 157 days since the New York Yankees played a meaningful baseball game. So much has changed in that time period — the club has a new co-ace, a new captain, and a new starting shortstop. The expectations for this club are, once again, sky high, and we get our first look at the tuned up Yankees today.

The Giants are coming off a nightmare offseason, losing out on both Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa in free agency despite preliminary reports indicating they landed both. Their top additions (Michael Conforto and the injured Mitch Haniger) aren’t schmucks by any stretch, but they’re not in the same stratosphere as Judge or Correa. They’re in tough in a division with the Dodgers, Padres, and ascendant Diamondbacks, and need to hit the ground running to stay competitive in the NL West.

As every Opening Day, we get the best arms each squad fields, with Gerrit Cole squaring off with Logan Webb. Cole’s looking to bounce back from a very weird 2022, where home run problems dogged him all year long, to the tune of a 3.50 ERA and 3.47 FIP. Webb had a stronger campaign, a 2.90 ERA and 3.37 FIP across 192.1 innings. He’s a legitimate Cy Young Award contender in his own right.

Oh, then there’s the small matter of Anthony Volpe. The Yankees’ top prospect will debut at Yankee Stadium, the youngest Yankee on an Opening Day roster since Derek Jeter was at shortstop in his 1996 rookie campaign. Volpe is batting ninth, and there’s going to be some kind of adjustment period when any rookie comes up to the bigs, but the confidence the Yankees are showing when they’ve traditionally been conservative with players this young makes me awful excited to see what Volpe can do.

Open bets on whether Judge or Volpe gets a bigger hand during the roll call.

How to watch

First Pitch: 1:05pm EST

Location: Yankee Stadium — The Bronx, NY

TV broadcast: YES Network, NBCS BA

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280

Online stream: MLB.tv, YES App

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