It’s a new season. The short 38-game sprint begins tonight. The Yankees and Blue Jays are tied atop the AL East with identical 69-55 records, so the best team from this day forward will win the division. Everything that happened in those first 124 games is relatively meaningless. It’ll have no impact on the race from this day forward.
The postseason odds at FanGraphs give the Blue Jays a better chance to win the AL East (54.9% to 44.0%) because the projection systems like their roster better, but to hell with that. The Yankees have that fighting spirit and have been exceeding expectations for about two decades now. This team was supposed to be old and out of the race about eight years ago. It hasn’t happened yet. No reason to think it will now. Here is the Astros’ lineup and here is the Yankees’ lineup:
- CF Jacoby Ellsbury
- LF Chris Young
- DH Alex Rodriguez
- 1B Mark Teixeira
- RF Carlos Beltran
- 3B Chase Headley
- C John Ryan Murphy
- SS Didi Gregorius
- 2B Brendan Ryan
RHP Ivan Nova
Another nice day for baseball in New York. The sky is blue, the clouds are poofy, and there’s a nice little breeze to offset the Freddy Garcia-esque mid-80s heat. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:05pm ET and you can watch locally on YES and nationally on MLB Network, depending where you live. Enjoy the game.
Injury Updates: In case you missed it earlier, CC Sabathia (knee) does not need surgery … Bryan Mitchell (face) threw a 30-pitch simulated game with no problems. The Yankees will figure out the next step in a day or two after they see how he feels. Mitchell could pitch in a minor league game next … Dustin Ackley (back) expects to begin a minor league rehab assignment with Double-A Trenton on Thursday.
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