The New York Yankees will open the 2019 regular season against the rebuilding Orioles in the Bronx beginning on Thursday afternoon.
- Baltimore Orioles (0-0)
- New York Yankees (0-0)
- 3/28, 3/30, 3/31 Start times: (1:05 P.M. 1:05 P.M. 1:05 P.M.) ET
- Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
The New York Yankees are set to open the 2019 regular season as they will host the Baltimore Orioles for a game series in the Bronx over the course of a long weekend.
Game one of the series will take place on Thursday then the teams will be off Friday and finish the series on Saturday and Sunday.
Is 2019 The Most Anticipated Yankees Season In The Past 10 Years?
Each team comes into 2019 with much different goals. The Orioles are in the midst of a rebuild and want to find the players who will be around to help the team contend in the future while the Yankees are in host pursuit of their 28th world series championship.
Despite the Yankees winning 100 games and the Orioles losing well over 100 in 2018 the season series between the two clubs was very competitive last season.
The Yankees won the season series 12-7, but by losing seven games to the league-worst Orioles, they lost out on any chance of winning the American League East which the Red Sox won by eight games.
Here’s a look at how the teams will match-up on the mound to open up the 2019 season.
Pitching Matchups
Thursday (3/28)
Andrew Cashner (0-0, 000 ERA) vs. Masahiro Tanaka (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
The opening day pitching match-up is not what either team planned heading into the season.
Baltimore slated Alex Cobb to make the opening day start, but a groin injury has him pushed back for a week.
As for the Yankees, Luis Severino was set for his second straight opening day start until an injury in spring training forced him to be placed on the injured list.
For Masahiro Tanaka, this will be his third carer opening day start however he has yet to pick up a win as he is 0-2 with a no-decision in a game the Yankees lost.
Andrew Cashner will be making his first opening day start since 2014 when he did so for the San Diego Padres. He picked up a no-decision but his team did win the game.
The Yankees look to have a slight advantage here as their current roster has hit a combined .270 against Cashner lifetime while Baltimore’s current lineup has a .233 average against Tanaka.
Saturday (3/30)
Nathan Karns (0-0, 000 ERA) Vs. James Paxton (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
In the second game of the series Orioles skipper Brandon Hyde will be using an opener as the Birds had to reshuffle their pitching staff due to Cobb’s injury thus Nathan Karns will open things up while James Paxton makes his Yankees debut in the second game of the 2019 season.
Karns has pitched against the Yankees before as he’s spent time with the Tampa Bay Rays. However, the only Yankees to face him that will likely be in the lineup Saturday are Giancarlo Stanton, Brett Gardner, and Aaron Hicks. Gardner is the only one with success as he’s 4-10 off Karns including a home run. As a member of the Mariners Paxton has struggled against the current members of the Orioles lineup.
The O’s hitters are a combined .300 off Paxton including Mark Trumbo who is a .333 hitter against the southpaw. The Yankees were so-so when facing openers in 2018; thus, it’ll be interesting to see how they react to facing a bunch of different arms in a single game for the first time in 2019.
Sunday (3/31)
Dylan Bundy (0-0, 000 ERA) Vs. J.A. Happ (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
The final game of the game of the 2019 opening series will feature Dylan Bundy and J.A. Happ who have both been around the AL East for several seasons.
Bundy has exclusively been with the Orioles where he pitched against the Yankees several times. New York’s current offense has hit to a combined .257 average with six home runs off Bundy. The most notable number to watch is Aaron Judge who has struggled against Bundy as he’s hit just .182 with two hits in 11 at-bats off the right-hander.
As for Happ, he has pitched against the Orioles in the AL East as a member of both the Blue Jays and Yankees. The O’s current offense has hardly touched Happ as they have a combined .176 batting average against him.
This game may be the most even pitching match-up of the series as both starters have had their fair share of success against the opposition.
Predictions
Look for the Yankees to take two out of three from the Orioles to open the 2019 season. The Yankees have never been a team to start fast as last year they broke a six-year opening day losing streak and haven’t swept an opening series since 2003 when they swept the Blue Jays.
The Orioles may be the worst team in the majors but baseball is the one sport where the weakest team in the league can be the best of the best on any given day.