Friday night Orioles game thread: vs. Yankees, 7:05

Player’s Weekend is one of the rare good things that MLB does. Whether you like the jerseys or think the nicknames are dumb, it is one of the few times in professional sports where the governing body tells the players that the big wigs make money off of to be themselves. “Forget the strict dress code. Don’t worry about (some of) the ‘unwritten rules.’” That’s fun! It makes the casual fan curious. It makes younger people take notice. Baseball needs those sorts of things to happen more often.

Some of the players are very lame with the name they choose to put on their back or on their arm patch this weekend. But many others get very into it, or take the opportunity to put the spotlight on a special person in their life. That creates human interest stories. It connects the fans with the players on a personal level.

Baseball, do this sort of stuff more often!

Baltimore Orioles

1. Cedric Mullins (The Entertainer) CF
2. Jonathan Villar (Villi) 2B
3. Adam Jones (La Gente) RF
4. Trey Mancini (Boomer) DH
5. Chris Davis (Crush) 1B
6. Tim Beckham (Swaggy) SS
7. Renato Nunez (Tato) 3B
8. John Andreoli (Andreoli) LF
9. Austin Wynns (Winnie) C

• RHP Alex Cobb (Cobb)

New York Yankees

1. Brett Gardner (Gardner) LF
2. Giancarlo Stanton (G) DH
3. Aaron Hicks (Hicksie) CF
4. Miguel Andujar (Papá) 3B
5. Neil Walker (Walkie) RF
6. Gleyber Torres (GT) SS
7. Luke Voit (Louis) 1B
8. Austin Romine (Ro) C
9. Ronald Torreyes (Toe) 2B

LHP CC Sabathia (Dub)