Baseball is back! It’s been 267 days since the Washington Nationals World Series victory over the Houston Astros. The Nationals are in Washington D.C. to face the New York Yankees at Nationals Park. As exciting as it is to have baseball back, things sure do look different as the season kicks off during the Coronavirus pandemic. The Nationals still took a moment to highlight their 2019 championship title by raising their World Series Flag and Pennant.
The season opener in the district was powerful despite the empty stands not only to celebrate the defending champions but also to spread awareness of social justice matters. Every player and coach from the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals took a knee on the field during the pregame ceremony. While the players kneeled, they held a long black piece of fabric as Morgan Freeman read a speech addressing social injustice.Then, everyone stood up for a recorded playing of the national anthem by D.C. Washington.
BLM (Black Lives Matter) is painted on the pitchers mound and players wore BLM t-shirts during pregame.
Followed by the pregame moment of social justice awareness, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The 60-game MLB season is underway.
Nationals Lineup
Turner,SS
Eaton, 2B
Castro, RF
Kendrick, DH
Thames, 1B
Suzuki, C
Cabrera, 3B
Stevenson, LF
Robles – CF
Scherzer – RHP
Nationals outfielder Juan Soto is on the Injury List (list) after testing positive for COVID-19. Soto did not have any symptoms. Soto will have to test negative two consecutive times before he’s eligible to return.
Yankees Lineup
Hicks, CF
Judge, RF
Torres, SS
Stanton, DH
Gardner, LF
Sanchez, C
Voit, 1B
Urshela, 3B
Wade, 2B
“Black Lives Matter” Displayed Throughout Opening Day at Nationals Park Nationals vs. Yankees was originally published on theteam980.com