The Grapefruit League finale has arrived. The Yankees close out the Florida portion of their exhibition schedule against the Twins today. Following today’s game the Yankees will travel up to Washington for tomorrow’s exhibition game at Nationals Park, then it’s back to New York for the start of the regular season. Hooray for that.
James Paxton is making the start today and, unlike Masahiro Tanaka yesterday, this will be a full start for him. Not a short tune-up outing. That’s because Paxton is not pitching again until the second game of the regular season next Saturday, after the usual off-day following the home opener. Here is the Twins’ lineup and here are the players the Yankees will use today:
- CF Tyler Wade
- 1B Luke Voit
- DH Greg Bird
- C Austin Romine
- RF Clint Frazier
- 3B Gio Urshela
- LF Matt Lipka
- 2B Gosuke Katoh
- SS Diego Castillo
LHP James Paxton
The full lineup card didn’t make its way to Twitter this morning, so I’m not sure who is available off the bench or out of the bullpen. Safe to assume all the reserves are minor leaguers and non-roster guys. The regulars hung back in Tampa.
It is nice and sunny in Fort Myers today, so the Yankees are closing out the Grapefruit League portion of their spring schedule with some great weather. This afternoon’s game will begin at 1:05pm ET and you can watch live on MLB.tv anywhere and on FOX Sports North in the Twins’ home market. There is no YES Network broadcast today. Enjoy the game.