Opening Day is inching closer. I know that because the night Grapefruit League games are piling up. The Yankees will play their second straight night game tonight and their third of the spring overall. They have a few next week as well. Two weeks and five days until Opening Day. Gettin’ closer.
Anyway, the rotation competition continues tonight. Luis Cessa is starting and, at this point, it’s not a question of “if” he’ll make the Opening Day rotation, just “what role.” Cessa’s had a nice little spring (5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K), but it’s only five innings, so who cares. Still better than getting rocked, I guess. Here is the Orioles’ lineup and here are the players the Yankees will use tonight:
- 2B Tyler Wade
- SS Gleyber Torres
- C Gary Sanchez
- 1B Greg Bird
- LF Clint Frazier
- DH Mike Ford
- 3B Gio Urshela
- RF Trey Amburgey
- CF Billy Burns
RHP Luis Cessa
Available Position Players: C Kellin Deglan, C Kyle Higashioka, C Jorge Saez, 1B Chris Gittens, IF Angel Aguilar, IF Diego Castillo, IF L.J. Mazzilli, IF Hoy Jun Park, OF Isiah Gilliam, OF Jeff Hendrix, OF Pablo Olivares. Deglan, Higashioka, and Saez are non-roster players. Everyone else is up from minor league camp for the road trip.
Available Pitchers: RHP Albert Abreu, RHP Daniel Alvarez, RHP Cale Coshow, LHP Danny Coulombe, LHP Phil Diehl, RHP Matt Frawley, RHP Joe Harvey, LHP Anderson Severino, LHP Stephen Tarpley. Alvarez, Frawley, and Severino are the extra arms from minor league camp.
The Yankees made the hour-plus bus trip down to Sarasota for tonight’s game. The weather’s good and first pitch is scheduled for 6:05pm ET. You can watch tonight’s game on MLB.tv anywhere or on MASN in the O’s home market. There is no YES Network broadcast for tonight’s game. Enjoy.