Yankees win season opener vs. Nationals
WASHINGTON — Of course, the heavens opened Thursday night and the rain, thunder and lightning crashed down on Nationals Park. It was the most onbrand, authentic start to the 2020 Yankees (and MLB) season that could happen.
After dreaming all winter about the day that they would trot out their new ace and all the talk about being ready to finally take that next step and return to a World Series for the first time in over a decade, everything that could go wrong did.
Thursday night, after a fourmonth delay because of the coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged the nation, the Yankees finally unveiled Gerrit Cole. Giancarlo Stanton crushed a tworun homer and singled in another run as Cole allowed one run on one hit — and Adam Eaton home run — as the Yankees won 4-1 in a game that was delayed for an hour and 58 minutes in the sixth inning before being called on what had to be the most awkwardly desperate Opening Day in the history of baseball.
Hours before the first pitch, the Yankees shrugged off the fact that Juan Soto, the Nationals young star, tested positive for COVID-19. They learned the news as they arrived at the ballpark in staggered arrivals per the 113-page MLB health and safety protocols. They were greeted by their manager Aaron Boone who broke the news and warned them to be careful when coming in contact with players and staff from the other team.
Still, Nationals Park was decked out in the usual Opening Day bunting. The defending World Series Champions raised their flag in left field and showed a video highlight of their spectacular 2019 run.
But because of the pandemic, no fans were allowed in the ballpark. The grounds crew scattered through one section to watch and about a dozen fans stood on the roof bar of the Hampton Inn across the street. They held signs and looked in from center field.
Despite the thousands of empty seats, the Nationals and Yankees still went through the traditional Opening Day introductions for the ESPN broadcast audience.
Players lined up on the firstand third-base line, but each stood six feet apart. The line went from behind the plate to deep into the outfield. They took a moment for a Players Alliancecoordinated protest to honor the Black Lives Matter movement and remember the victims of racial injustice like George Floyd
and Breonna Taylor. They wore Black Lives Matter and United For Change patches on their jerseys.
Instead of the president, who was four miles away in the White House touting the return of baseball as a sign of “returning to normal,” it was infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci who threw out the first pitch. The face of science through this crisis may have yanked that pitch wildly to his left, but he was first person in the ballpark Thursday night to actually get real, live human applause.
Of course, this is 2020 and four months after the real-world troubles of the pandemic crashed the sports world, we’ve learned that nothing is easy anymore.
After a brilliant blue-skied summer day, the clouds began to
roll in during the first inning. And then the dark clouds followed. Lightning flashed in the distance by the fourth and thunder rolled in with closer lightning strikes in the fifth.
Just like this whole season, the obvious storm appeared and the players tried to play harder, focus more and just get through. They were on the field through the start of the rain, rushing to finish the fifth inning to try and finally get the first game of this season at least officially in the books.
As the storm drenched the field and the lightning and thunder rolled by, the in-park video board warned the non-existent fans that the game has been delayed “Please exit the seating bowl.” Nearly two hours later, the public address announcer made it official, echoing through the empty stadium that the game was called due to inclement weather.
The awkwardly perfect end to Opening Day in this 2020 season.