Report: Yankees-Nationals to open MLB schedule on July 23

Major League Baseball is expected to announce the 2020 schedule sometime this coming week and the season might open with the New York Yankees traveling to face the Washington Nationals on July 23rd, according to New York Post reporter Joel Sherman.

Sherman is reporting the players’ union signed off on a proposed schedule this past Thursday and now teams are reviewing the schedule. There are numerous hurdles in a season shortened due to a pandemic, and each team will want to make sure their schedule does not add any additional hurdles.

If baseball is able to start on time, this matchup would have the defending World Series champs facing a Yankees team debuting big ticket free agent Gerrit Cole. It’s safe to say fans would be plenty excited seeing Cole face off against Nationals co-ace Max Scherzer.

Where this gets interesting is if either starter is able to go a traditional six or seven innings per start out of the gate. Spring training is expected to restart the first week of July, but with only three weeks to prepare, will starting pitchers be fully stretched out after three months of inactivity?