The New York Yankees start the 2017 season against the Tampa Bay Rays. Here’s what you need to know to watch the game on TV and online.
The 2017 Major League Baseball season has finally arrived and the New York Yankees are traveling to Florida for an Opening Day matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Yankees are in the middle of a rebuilding campaign but they plan to remain competitive in the talented American League East. The Rays are celebrating their 20th season since the 1997 MLB expansion. The Yankees finished in fourth place in the AL East with a decent 84-78 record while the Rays found themselves in the basement with a 68-94 record and 25 games back from the first place Boston Red Sox.
New York Yankees (0-0) at Tampa Bay Rays (0-0)
Date: April 2, 2017
Location: St. Petersburg, Florida
Ballpark: Tropicana Field
Start Time: 1:10 p.m. ET
Channel: ESPN
Live Stream: MLB TV and WatchESPN
Masahiro Tanaka will take the mound for the Yankees. Tanaka had 31 appearances for the Yankees in 2016 for a total of 199.7 innings of work and a 3.06 ERA. This is his third career Opening Day start.
The Rays have their ace Chris Archer in the starting spot. Archer had an ERA of 4.02 in 2016 in 201.3 innings of work with 33 appearances.
This is a fairly even matchup and should be fun to watch. There is a lot of interest as to whether or not the Yankees’ young team will be able to make it into the top half of the AL East given how strong the Red Sox, Orioles and Blue Jays were in 2016.
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ESPN will have exclusive coverage of Opening Day 2017 with all three Sunday games airing back to back to back.