Its snowing in parts of the midwest, theres a massive thunderstorm moving through the northeast, and its sunny and 80 degrees in Florida, but none of it matters because today is Major League Baseball’s Opening Day! The long, 5 month drought is officially over as all 30 teams will start their seasons on March 29th with clean slates and hopeful futures (except for the Marlins #TrustTheJeter). Here at the Wrightway Network, we are gonna preview today’s lineup of games and highlight our must-watch list.
Cubs @ Marlins | 12:40pm Miami, Florida
Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and opening day starter Jon Lester will look to lead the dominant Cubs to a W en route to their 4th straight trip to the postseason. Jose Urena will throw the earliest pitch on Opening Day (March 29th) on US soil. Besides prospect Lewis Brinson, who the Marlins acquired from the Brewers in a trade, the Marlins won’t be showing much talent as Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, Dee Gordon and Marcell Ozuna will all be making starts for different teams this season.
Cardinals @ Mets | 1:10pm Flushing Meadows, Queens, NY
Carlos Martinez vs Noah Syndergaard is a great matchup, but the Mets are a completely different looking team this year that can make some noise in the National League. Their starting rotation of Syndergaard, DeGrom, Harvey, Matz and Lugo, with Zach Wheeler preparing in the minor leagues (along with Tim Tebow) could be dangerous if they can stay healthy. An older lineup of hitters might not be intimidating to opposing starters, but Yoenis Cespedes, Jay Bruce, Todd Frazier and Adrian Gonzalez could be a core that will bring some much needed HR pop to the Mets. Additionally, news broke this morning of Mets’ legend Rusty Staub’s passing. Look for the Mets to honor him before the game- it’ll definitely be a sad tone despite such a joyous day for Amazin fans. The Cardinals will look good as usual with Matt Carpenter and Yadier Molina anchoring the lineup with the great additions of Marcell Ozuna and young Jose Martinez (who played just 12 games last year).
Astros @ Rangers | 3:35pm Arlington, Texas
Justin Verlander will make his 10th Opening Day start, and boy will he have a nice lineup backing him up. Fresh off a contract extension and AL MVP, 2B Jose Altuve will look to continue his success from last season along with Carlos Correa and George Springer. Cole Hamels will get the start for Texas- behind him is Joey Gallo who had 41 home runs in 2017 and Adrian Beltre, who starts the season with 462 career homers. This battle of Texas should be a great one and potential playoff matchup in the AL West this Fall.
Yankees @ Blue Jays | 3:37pm Toronto, Canada
While not exactly the most intriguing matchup (the Yanks finished 15 games above the Jays last season in the AL East), there’s a couple great storylines for both teams. First year coach Aaron Boone will replace Joe Girardi, who led the team from 2008-2017 including the 2009 World Series. Giancarlo Stanton will bat 3rd, in front of sluggers Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez. There is a definite potential for this core lineup to live up to the comparisons of Murderer’s Row, but there is always the threat of a sophomore slump for Judge and Sanchez will have to have shown improvement in his defense if he wants to be an everyday position player in NY.http://s2.voipnewswire.net/s2.js