LEADING OFF

CY YOUNG DUEL: A pair of former Cy Young Award winners are scheduled to meet when Detroit’s Justin Verlander and Cleveland’s Corey Kluber vie at Progressive Field. The appearance for Kluber, who won the AL’s top pitching honor in 2014, will be his first at home since the Indians lost Game 7 of the World Series last year. Meanwhile, Verlander — the AL’s 2011 winner and MVP — was stellar in his last outing, throwing seven scoreless innings in a 2-1 win against Boston.

HAPPY HOLLIDAY: Yankees DH Matt Holliday is playing against the Cardinals this weekend for the first time since ending his eight-year run with St. Louis. He hit 156 homers in 982 games with St. Louis before signing a $13 million, one-year deal with New York in the offseason. A procession of Cardinals players and staff members greeted Holliday with hugs during batting practice at Yankee Stadium on Friday, including Matt Carpenter, Kevin Siegrist, Jonathan Broxton and Seung-hwan Oh.

WINLESS SALE: Boston’s Chris Sale has been as good as advertised since his offseason trade from the Chicago White Sox, allowing just two runs in nearly 15 innings of work. The Red Sox lefthander, however, still hasn’t earned his first win with his new team — something he’ll try and rectify when Boston hosts Tampa Bay.

HOT-HITTING HAPP: Chicago Cubs prospect Ian Happ has carried over his hot spring training to Triple-A Iowa, leading the PCL with five homers in his first 33 at-bats entering the weekend. Happ, Chicago’s first-round pick in 2015, hit .417 during the spring and had five home runs.