The Yankees will take on the Nationals in Washington on Thursday night.
The return of baseball will commence on Thursday night, as the defending champion Washington Nationals will host the New York Yankees, four long months after the 2020 regular season was suspended due to the global pandemic.
The sweeping changes implemented include division realignments, a universal designated hitter and just 60 total games, to name a few. This means that each game will almost triple in terms of urgency, and the Opening Night fixture at Nationals Park projects to be an absolute nail-biter.
The Gerrit Cole-Max Scherzer pitching matchup is enough to give this game box office appeal. You could argue that these are two of the top three or four hurlers in all of baseball, so fans can expect a true pitcher’s duel in DC. Nothing like some old school baseball to announce the resumption of the season, right?
How to Live Stream Yankees vs Nationals
First pitch from Nationals Park is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. Live streams can be found on the Watch ESPN app as well as the Reddit live stream subreddit community.
As far as player availability is concerned, the only star missing for the Yankees is closer Aroldis Chapman, who tested positive for COVID-19 approximately two weeks ago and has not yet been cleared to return to action. Elsewhere, infielder DJ LeMahieu seems to be fully recovered from his battle with the virus. The Yankees leadoff stalwart reported to summer camp last week and is expected to be in the starting lineup, though Aaron Boone was noncommittal on Wednesday.
Speaking of which, if Boone’s card looks something like what we saw in the final exhibition against Philadelphia, Mad Max is going to have his hands full on the mound for Washington.
Because wins in 2020 are impossible to come by, fans should keep tabs on the forecast in Washington, as meteorologists are projecting scattered to severe thunderstorms in the afternoon and a light shower towards the evening. Let’s cross our fingers that the weather holds up and this game starts on time.
As of right now, baseball is officially back, and it feels great to say.