Host Intro: MLB opening day is in full swing. The New York Yankees home opener against the Milwaukee Brewers is already underway, but our reporter Caroline McCarthy was in the Bronx earlier this morning to see how Yankee fans were getting ready for the start of the season.
McCarthy: It’s 10:30 a.m. and I'm here with the early birds at Billy’s Sports Bar, just across from Yankees Stadium. Billy’s is a staple in the Yankee community. Last season, nearly 3,000 fans piled in to watch the Yankees fall to the Dodgers in a five-game World Series. Today, almost five full hours before game time, a few fans have already started celebrating the new season.
Mike: It’s a national holiday and the Yankees have a home opener, so why not get here
early?
Emma: We’re just excited for the Yankees season baby.
McCarthy: That was Mike and Emma from Middletown, NJ. Their 8 a.m. bus made them among the first to arrive at Billy’s. Outside the stadium, fans are lining up for pre-game tours, taking selfies with the gate entrances and anxiously awaiting doors opening at 1 p.m. Despite Mike’s declaration, opening day is not recognized as a national holiday. But these Yankee fans weren’t going to let that stop them.
Caroline: It’s a Thursday morning Where does work think you are right
Now?
Crowd: I told 'em I was gonna The Yankee game.
Oh, I'm, they know I'm here. I took the day off. I took the day off for this.
Oh, I told 'em I was coming here. They, they, it was, it was either I was, they were giving
the day off or I was. Just not coming in to work.
I always take the day off every year for opening day.
I took a vacation day today and tomorrow, just in case it got rained out today.
Then I didn't have to go back to work and be like, I need tomorrow off now too,
McCarthy: Fans are looking for redemption this season. The Yankees had a disappointing end to the 2024 World Series when they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 1. Try as they might, the Yankees haven’t won a World Series since 2009.
Caroline: What are you guys most looking forward to this season?
Alyssa and Craig: hopefully win a World Series. Yeah. So hopeful. A little disappointing
end until last year. So hopefully, hopefully it's not like last year.
McCarthy: Austin Wells will lead off for the Yankees, making him the first catcher in Yankee history to do so. His job: get on base for Aaron Judge. Something Wells has been doing… well. He posted a four twenty six on base percentage down in Florida this spring.
The Yankees lost Juan Soto to the Mets in a $765 million deal. All eyes are on newcomers Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt, two former MVPs with something to prove. Goldschmidt is rounding third on a hall-of-fame career, and Bellinger is six years out from his 2019 MVP season.
The Yankees take the plate at 3:05 today. Make sure to tune in…after Uptown Radio. This is Caroline McCarthy for Columbia Radio News.
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