Yankees: Projecting Opening Day starting lineup after Aaron Boone’s latest comments

We’re less than a month away from Opening Day and New York Yankees fans simply cannot wait to plop into a seat at The Stadium, dive into an overpriced bucket of chicken tenders and fries with a fat beer, and watch the Bombers go to work.

Some will be able to do that too, as limited attendance will be permitted at the onset of the 2021 season. And after three spring training games, it’s fair to say most of us are ready.

That’s why we couldn’t help but start pondering what the starting lineup would look like for the first game against the Toronto Blue Jays, especially in wake of manager Aaron Boone’s comments.

He said that he expects to see Aaron Hicks as the team’s No. 3 hitter when the campaign begins, so why not take that information and run with it for the time being?

Then again, the starting lineup for Opening Day doesn’t necessarily matter. Boone can (and will) stand to benefit by shuffling these guys around all year. But for the sake of getting more amped for April 1, let’s take a look at what we’re thinking.

Projecting the Yankees 2021 Opening Day starting lineup.

1. 2B DJ LeMahieu
2. RF Aaron Judge
3. CF Aaron Hicks
4. DH Giancarlo Stanton
5. 1B Luke Voit
6. SS Gleyber Torres
7. LF Clint Frazier
8. C Gary Sanchez
9. 3B Gio Urshela
10. SP Gerrit Cole

Goodness gracious, it’s even better when you finally put it to paper! Look at the bottom of the lineup! If Frazier finally has his 162-game breakout, Sanchez rebounds, and Urshela picks up where he left off after elbow surgery, this is hands down the scariest lineup in all of baseball.

There’s power from top to bottom. There are quality at-bats in a majority of the spots. And don’t forget about who’s coming off the bench. It could be any combination of Brett Gardner, Tyler Wade, Mike Tauchman, Miguel Andújar, Derek Dietrich, Jay Bruce and Mike Ford.

Whoops, forgot to mention we have the reigning batting champion (LeMahieu) and home run champ (Voit) in there along with perennial MVP candidates (as long as they can stay healthy) in Judge and Stanton. And Cole as the ace.

Once again, it’s another year full of hype and endless possibilities, with health likely being the sole factor in determining the Yankees’ World Series hopes. Fingers crossed.

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