Yankees Opening Day 2015: TV Schedule, Live Stream and Predictions
April 6, 2015 · Kenny DeJohn · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Rejoice, New York Yankees fans. The Bronx Bombers are back.
They’ll take the field Monday afternoon for the first game of the 2015 campaign, and the Toronto Blue Jays are the first test for a team looking to make it to the playoffs after missing out the past two seasons.
The Yankees (like most teams) are ripe with fresh storylines entering Day 1 of the regular season. Just in case you haven’t heard, Alex Rodriguez is back. He should be in the starting lineup as the designated hitter. Among a sea of stories, A-Rod’s should get the most attention.
This will be the Yankees’ first Opening Day without Derek Jeter in pinstripes since 1996 (even though he was injured for Opening Day in both 2001 and 2013). This has the makings of a transition year as a result, but general manager Brian Cashman did his best to build a competitive club this offseason.
How sweet will the fruits of his labor prove to be? Only time will tell. For now, let’s focus on Opening Day.
Viewing Information
ESPN has you covered for a live stream of the Yankees’ first game of the season. Head over to WatchESPN.com to check it out.
Probable Starters
Probable Lineups
Game Prediction
The Blue Jays can absolutely rake, but the Yankees have the clear advantage in the pitching department. Drew Hutchison will likely improve upon his disappointing 2014 season, but Masahiro Tanaka is a clear ace when healthy. It’s rare to see lopsided pitching matchups like this on Opening Day. Managers generally send their top dogs to the bump to kick off the season.
But Marcus Stroman’s injury killed those plans for Jays manager John Gibbons. Daniel Norris and Aaron Sanchez aren’t ready for Opening Day nods, and Hutchison has the most upside out of the trio of himself, R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle.
Hutchison has a career ERA of 4.80 at Yankee Stadium, which means the Yankees should tee off on the 24-year-old.
Look for a convincing win for the Yankees.
Prediction: Yankees win 7-2.
Season Prediction
As far as the season goes, the team’s outlook is similar to each of the past several years. Health is the biggest key, followed closely by the performance of veterans in the final stages of their respective careers.
A-Rod, of course, is an enormous question mark, though the near-40-year-old did impress this spring. He swatted three home runs and collected 12 hits. He didn’t produce at a blistering pace, but the Yankees have to like what they’ve seen.
Manager Joe Girardi told Brendan Kuty of NJ.com that he had an inkling that Rodriguez would come back strong from his year-long suspension:
I’ve said all along, I thought Alex was going to help us. But until you get into it, I mean, it’s two years since he’s played. I wasn’t 100 percent sure. I mean, if I were a betting man, I would have bet on him playing well. But there’s still that…you gotta see it after two years of not playing and being 39 1/2 years old.
A-Rod figures to see most of his time at DH, though both corner infield positions are also in the cards.
Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira are two other bats of concern, especially after their not-so-productive seasons in 2014. Check out their numbers below:
Beltran is a likelier bounce-back candidate at this point. Teixeira hasn’t been wildly productive since 2011, whereas Beltran had been a lethal bat from 2011-2013 before elbow issues hampered him last season. That said, both need to improve for the Yankees’ offense to provide enough punch.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the lineup is that Jeter isn’t in the 2-hole, the place he had been for most of the past 20 years. In his place in the order is Brett Gardner, and in his place in the field is Didi Gregorius.
The 25-year-old Gregorius is best known for his defense, though he has shown flashes of potential with the stick. He doesn’t need to rake, but duplicating his performance from 2013 (.252/.332/.373 in 357 at-bats) would be ideal.
The lineup produced 3.9 runs per game last season. It’ll need to improve by a half-run or so to take a leap up the American League East standings.
Pitching is definitely this team’s strong suit, but of course, there are questions there as well. CC Sabathia was horrendous in Tampa, allowing nine runs in 10 innings this spring. He hasn’t been a reliable starter since 2012.
Tanaka is also a question mark, but that has everything to do with his health and nothing to do with his performance. He escaped Tommy John surgery last July, but his elbow is now a ticking time bomb. Will it explode? David Waldstein of The New York Times reports that the 26-year-old will take the necessary precautions this season by not throwing as hard:
There’s a good chance the Yankees’ best starter this season will be Michael Pineda. He and Nathan Eovaldi are the two keys to this rotation. Both young, the right-handers are hard-throwers with the potential to miss bats and intimidate lineups.
In terms of relief pitching, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller are the big names to watch, while David Carpenter, Justin Wilson, Esmil Rogers, Chasen Shreve and Chris Martin will provide support.
Betances and Miller are in line to share closing duties (much to the dismay of fantasy owners) thanks to average spring showings by each hurler, yet the bullpen is strong. It has three lefties, two of which (Wilson and Shreve) can match up in a specialist role against the opposition’s best lefty bats.
Overall, this Yankees team appears far too volatile to trust.
There’s a lot to like given the infusion of young talent, but the fact that iffy veterans still play prominent positions will likely hold this team back.
The best-case scenario is that the Yankees win 90 games and compete in the AL East, a division that really could be wide open given the respective issues of the other teams.
The worst case is that the Bombers completely implode and finish well behind the pack in the division.
With that being the case, bet on the Yankees being a .500 team—but understand that their 2015 season will be unpredictable.
Prediction: Yankees finish 81-81 and miss the playoffs.
Kenny DeJohn is a Breaking News Team Featured Columnist. Follow him on Twitter.
Read more New York Yankees news on BleacherReport.com
Yankee Tickets
Shop Yankee
