What To Make Of The New York Yankees' 2021 Opening Day and What Can We Expect Going Forward?

    It was a very unfortunate turn of events in the April 1, 2021 Opening Day debut of the New York Yankees  at Yankee Stadium. The team will have to regrettably put the first game of the year behind them, as it will go down as their very first lost of the New Year , but however, let the records also show that the Yanks also checked a lot of boxes in the midst of falling to the Toronto Blue Jays in a 3-2 lost.

  Let's first talk about the Gerrit Cole Yankee debut. Well, it is no doubt that Cole was not very happy with how his day ended after his 5.1 innings of work on the mound. Despite Cole's minor anger session in the dugout after his outing out, the Yankee ace did ok in his first outing in pinstripes. 

  With one out in the 6th inning and the Yankees leading 2-1, Cole made one of his few mistake, hanging a slider that Teoscar Hernadez took deep to left field to tie the game. This was the turning point in which the Jays' went on to capitalize and win a 3-2  game in 10 innings. 

  After walking Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the next at bat, Cole's day was over, but all things considered, he did his job as the Yankees' Opening Day starter. When the signing of Cole was finalized, everyone knew that the team was getting a fighter to lead the starting pitching staff. So, as Cole hoped to finish the Opening Day start stronger than he did yesterday, he said the following:

  "A lot of good happened out there.... I thought for the most part we did a nice job. I just want that slider back....." Cole also added, "It was a bad pitch and then I got into the hole against Vladdy, who worked it well. The last fastball was not totally competitive. I didn't even really pressure a take on him. I just wanted to finish a little better and obviously to have held the lead there."

  At the end of his outing, Cole threw a total of 97 pitches over his 5.1 innings of work. All things considered, Cole had a decent outing with Gary Sanchez behind the plate. Speaking of which, Sanchez had a lot to prove with his cold bat and lack of defense in 2020.

  Although the Yanks fell to the Jays on Opening Day, it did not stop guys that were struggling last season from giving a glimpse of what could be their revenge tours in 2021. After Cole made his rare mistake and allowed Toronto to score first, Sanchez followed up Gleyber Torres' first hit of the season (a single to left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr.) with a two spot in his very first at bat of the 2021 season. Hitting a homer on a fly ball to left field, the Yankee catcher and shortstop gave their starting pitch the lead. Not to mention both players also showed off their defensive improvement, as Torres had some nice plays in the shortstop and who could forget Sanchez showed off his gun for an arm from the catcher's position in the seventh inning with Randal Grichuk attempting to steal.

  A lost is a lost, but when when you see such early improvement from from two key positions on the diamond, one can only hope for a paramount season from each of the guys who are working their ways back from a terrible season or an injury.

  Speaking of which, newly acquired pitch RHP Corey Kluber will have his shot after quite some time to reinsert himself as one of baseball's elite pitchers. The veteran righty became a two time Cy Young award winner with the Cleveland Indians, but last season with the Texas Rangers, he was limited to one inning of work due to an injury. Here in 2021, the righty will be wearing pinstripes and he will build upon his 3-1 record with an ERA of 2.25 that he has accumulated at Yankee Stadium in other uniforms. He will get tabbed with the second start of the season, as he will be looking to progress upon a spring training that he seems to be satisfied with, as he feels healthy and is comfortable with his spring training outing.