#Yankees vs. Nationals prediction: Gerrit Cole will shine in debut

A clean slate. Stack your toilet paper, grab your Purell and mix yourself a quarantini. After washing our hands every hour for four months it’s time to get them dirty again. Sure, the rate of infection is four times higher nationwide than it was on Opening Day, March 26. And yes we understand the plug can be pulled at any moment. But baseball is back!

While we missed the game it is refreshing that the calendar reads July and we are not in the hole for 1,000 tonykubeks. The season has been shortened to 60 games. Let’s see how we do off the nine-month layoff.

Yanks are in D.C. to take on the champs. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Washington Nationals fan, will throw out the first pitch. Doc is no Gooden, but is believed to have a wide range of pitches in his arsenal including a filthy spitball. But after months of flattening, the curve is surely coming.

Gerrit Cole makes his long, I mean long-awaited Yankees debut. Former cheater, er … Astro, led MLB with 326 Ks last year and can start earning his $324 million facing a team who lost arguably its best position player, Anthony Rendon, to the Angels in the offseason. Max Scherzer turns 36 on Monday. Nats put the ball in his capable hands for Game 7 of the World Series and he kept them in the game, holding the ’Stros to two runs over five innings. Play 20 units on the Yankees.