If all goes well, then opening day for the major baseball leagues this year will feature Max Scherzer vs. Gerrit Cole in the nation’s capital.
The union signed the details Thursday on a 60-game schedule. However, MLB has yet to finalize the product as teams review variables and the league continues to navigate what it perceives to be its best alternatives to play amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But the current plan is to launch the regular season on July 23, but not with a full list of games. The highlight of the day will be the Yankees at Nationals Park against the defending champions, likely in primetime, The Post has learned.
A lot has to go from time to time, when MLB tries to start spring training next week at a time when coronavirus cases are on the rise in multiple key sports states like Arizona, California, Florida and Texas.
Keeping staff safe from the virus is Job 1, but trying to limit injury in such a strange and shortened preparation environment will also be key. But if all can be accomplished, MLB’s plan is to have a front-line event with the Yankees in DC.The biggest team in the sport against the 2019 World Series champions.
The centerpiece of such a game would be, if health permits, Cole’s debut against three-time Cy Young Scherzer winner, even if the headlines span three or four innings by then. The two met in Game 1 of the World Series last year when Cole was still an Astro. He gave up five runs in seven innings and suffered the loss, while Scherzer won the victory with two runs in five innings.
They were also slated to meet in Game 5, but Scherzer was scratched due to a back injury. Cole, in his last game with Houston, allowed a seven-inning run to clinch the victory as the Astros moved within a title victory. However, the Nationals won the last two games in Houston, including a Game 7 in which Scherzer made a famous start after recovering sufficiently from a bad back and Cole never entered the game in relief despite a brief warm-up.
If this regular season had started on time on March 28, the Nationals had already announced that Scherzer would start at Citi Field against the Mets and Jacob deGrom. Cole was in line to start the Yankees opening game in Baltimore.
Cole’s debut, after signing a nine-year, $ 324 million pitching record, has been one of the most anticipated elements of the 2020 season.
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