Yankees already getting burned by opponent's inexplicable early rotation switch

The New York Yankees will open the season against the defending NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers, who used to have a slightly more fearsome rotation back when they were fronted by fire-breathing ace Corbin Burnes.

Luckily, the Yankees will avoid Burnes in their season-opening set, after he was dealt to the Orioles last preseason and signed with the Diamondbacks this past winter. And, in their second series of the year, against Arizona, surely they get a soft place to land by facing a No. 4 or 5 starter to open the series, followed by -- wait, what?!

For whatever reason, Burnes will not face the Chicago Cubs in Arizona's four-game series to open the season. Maybe the Diamondbacks lined him up wrong? Or maybe they lined him up very right, trying to game the system against the Yankees from the jump?

Regardless, this insinuates that the Yankees will face Arizona's top three starters, led by Burnes in his ballyhooed debut, while the Cubbies get two through five. Make it make sense.

Oh, good, Corbin Burnes will face the New York Yankees in the Diamondbacks' fifth game of the season for some reason!

Dang. Maybe the Yankees should've offered Spencer Jones for Burnes after all. They still would've let him walk to Arizona this offseason for nothing, but hey, it's the thought that counts!

As it turns out, Burnes' delay is due to his own peculiar particularity. After staring down a rough patch in 2019, he changed his routine, and made it meticulous. Every year, in mid-to-late January, he sets his routine, and came to a consensus this season with Arizona pitching coach Brian Kaplan. Once Torey Lovullo announced Zac Gallen as the D-Backs' Opening Day starter, it was clear that Burnes would have to delay his arrival even further, unable to pivot away from his process.

Lovullo owned up to the "technical error" in judgment, not realizing what he'd done to Burnes until it was already declared. Hey, no harm, no foul — unless you're the Yankees, who have to face a gauntlet of Burnes and Gallen in their second series of the season. Pray for cold weather in the Bronx, or maybe a rained-out doubleheader. At the very least, the games will be played on New York's turf.