Baseball’s new year is officially upon us. The 162-game march that will lead the good and lucky to October gets started on Sunday and Monday.
Here’s how you can watch one of those games -- the one between the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins.
When: Monday, 4:10 p.m. ET
Where: Target Field
TV: Fox Sports Kansas City, Fox Sports North
Streaming: MLB.tv
Odds: KC -105 (risk 105 to win 100)
The probables
The Twins were terrible in 2016 but Santana was not -- he threw 181 1/3 innings with a 3.38 ERA (124 ERA+). He has two affordable years ($13.5 million per season) on his contract plus a club option, so he could be a very sought after player at the trade deadline. This will be Santana’s second career Opening Day start. He got the nod for Minnesota last year too. The last Twins pitcher to start back-to-back Opening Days was Carl Pavano in 2011 and 2012.
For the fourth straight season, the Royals will have a different Opening Day starter in 2017. Duffy is starting his first career season opener and is following Edinson Volquez (2016), Yordano Ventura (2015), and James Shields (2014). Duffy started last season in the bullpen but was excellent after moving into the rotation in mid May, throwing 161 2/3 innings with a 3.56 ERA and 167 innings in 26 starts.
