How to Watch: MLB Opening Day New York Yankees vs Washington Nationals

The long-awaited debut of former UCLA Bruins pitcher Gerrit Cole with his new team in the New York Yankees is finally here. Find out tonight just how the Major League Baseball 2020 abbreviated season will look like and how the richest pitcher in MLB history will fare with his new team as the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals square off on Opening Day, 2020.

Cole, of course, was signed to the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history, signing a 9-year, $324M contract after his stint with the Houston Astros. He went 1-1 against the Nationals in the World Series just a season ago and takes on this familiar foe when the season finally opens for 2020.

In fact, Cole will be taking on Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, in a rematch of a World Series game. This duo becomes just the second time in MLB history that an Opening Day game matches up two pitchers that faced each other in the previous year’s World Series (Edinson Vólquez vs Matt Harvey, 2016).

Cole pitched for UCLA from 2009-2011 and is second in Bruins history with a career 376 strikeouts. He also ranks third in career starts (49), fifth in career innings (322.1) and is third on the UCLA single-season list with 153 strikeouts in the 2010 season. He was selected first overall in the 2011 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Oddly enough, Cole was selected by the Yankees in the 2008 Draft, in the first round, but opted to attend UCLA instead. And now he ends up with the Yankees anyways.

Here’s how to watch him make his debut with the Yankees tonight.

Time, TV channel and streaming info

Network: ESPN, FuboTV

Time: First pitch scheduled for 7:08 p.m. ET

Location: Nationals Park, Washington D.C.

Broadcast Crew: Matt Vasgersian (play-by-play), Alex Rodriguez (color commentary), Buster Olney (color commentary)

Preview: Yankees vs Nationals Series Preview

Stats: MLB.com