Who will start Opening Day for the Yankees? Seriously, no one knows

The New York Yankees were dealt some devastating news with Gerrit Cole dealing with an elbow injury. They've dodged the worst, for now, but who knows for sure when the reigning AL Cy Young winner will make his season debut.

Cole was expected to be the Yankees Opening Day starter for a fifth consecutive season, but his injury takes him out of the running. The fact that this injury happened in the middle of Spring Training with only two weeks to go before Opening Day makes it so that the Yankees have no idea who their Opening Day starter is going to be.

No, seriously. Aaron Boone has no idea.

It's anyone's best guess as to who will start on Opening Day for the Yankees

Marcus Stroman, arguably their best pitcher without Cole, took himself out of the running by saying he's sticking to his schedule. It's unlikely that the Yankees mess too much with what the oft-injured Carlos Rodon is doing as well, the other logical choice to replace Cole.

So it won't be Stroman or Rodon, so who will take the ball? The logical choices after them would probably be one of Nestor Cortes Jr. or Clarke Schmidt. The problem is that neither one of them is lined up to pitch on Opening Day.

When asked about who was going to pitch on Opening Day Boone said he knows who is pitching but does not want to disclose at this time. It's hard to blame him after what has transpired with Cole. His answer to whether it's Cortes or Schmidt of "could be" makes it fair to assume that it will be one of those pitchers.

While Cortes and Schmidt are far from the most exciting option to take the ball against the Astros on Opening Day, they're definitely more exciting than a bullpen game, a possibility that MLB.com's Brian Hoch brought up.

The Yankees will presumably tinker with one of Cortes or Schmidt's schedules to ensure that one of them takes the ball on Opening Day. Giving Cortes a couple of extra days of rest could get him lined up for Opening Day while simultaneously keeping the oft-injured southpaw out of action which can be a good thing.

Turns out, the Yankees aren't the only team in this matchup of heavyweights without clear Opening Day plans. With Justin Verlander out, Joe Espada has yet to announce Houston's Opening Day starter. It will presumably be Framber Valdez, but that's not set in stone as of now.

What was perhaps the most exciting Opening Day matchup of the season has lost a lot of intrigue with both team's pitching plans in flux. It's worse for New York than it is for Houston, of course, but it's not ideal either way.