Looking at Opening Day between New York and Tampa Bay

Looking at Opening Day between New York and Tampa Bay

In the 111 seasons of the New York Yankees, they have a 74-1-36 record on Opening Day. They are 3-1 under current skipper Joe Girardi. They are 2-0 against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The Yankees pitchers with the most number of opening day starts are Whitey Ford, Mel Stottlemyre, and Ron Guidry who all have seven. Lefty Gomez has six. Red Ruffing has five. When CC Sabathia takes the mound at the Tropicana Field, he will tie Roger Clemens and Bob Shawkey with four starts.

Now on their 112th season, if Girardi starts this lineup of Brett Gardner in left field, Curtis Granderson at centerfield and Nick Swisher at right field then Alex Rodriguez at third base, Derek Jeter at shortstop, Robinson Cano at second base, and Mark Teixeira at first base, this will be the third consecutive year that he will have done so with the same players.

Here’s how I figure the starting lineups for New York and Tampa Bay:

New York

SS Derek Jeter

CF Curtis Granderson

2B Robinson Cano

3B Alex Rodriguez

1B Mark Teixeira

RF Nick Swisher

DH Raul Ibañez

C Russell Martin

LF Brett Gardner

P CC Sabathia (3-6 vs. TB in last three years with 3.45 ERA). I'm gonna follow that two-seamer fastball of his that he worked on this Spring Training. Here's to its effectivity. 

Tampa Bay

CF Desmond Jennings

RF Ben Zobrist

3B Evan Longoria

DH Jeff Keppinger

SS Sean Rodriguez

2B Elliott Johnson

1B Carlos Peña

C Jose Molina

LF Matt Joyce

P James Shields (5-9 vs. NY in last five years with 3.88 ERA)

My predictions for the 2012 MLB Division Champions:

AL East: New York

AL Central: Detroit

AL West: Texas

NL East: Philadelphia

NL Central: Cincinnati

NL West: Arizona

What I will follow aside from my New York Yankees:

- Albert Pujols with the Los Angeles Angels

- The Philadelphia Phillies with their starting pitching staff of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels and their closer in Jonathan Papelbon.

- Atlanta Braves without Chipper Jones

- The flow of beer and chips in the Boston clubhouse.

- AJ Burnett with the Pittsburgh Pirates.