It’s a brisk, sunny Thursday in The Bronx. You’re playing hooky from work. Maybe you’re skipping school. A hot dog is in one hand. A scorebook is in the other. Baseball is back and all is right in the world.

It is Opening Day. Everyone has hope. But the Yankees still have more than most. They are among the top five World Series favorites again. They boast a top-five payroll again. They have been to the ALCS three of the past six years. They are months removed from one of the greatest first halves in MLB history. They are due to have better health.

It is March 30, and you see Gerrit Cole on the mound, still only 32 and two years removed from being the Cy Young Award runner-up, throwing to All-Star Jose Trevino. You look to the field and see a pair of former MVPs (Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson) and a pair of three-time All-Stars (Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu). And as always, Aaron Judge is the center of attention, the most popular Yankee since Derek Jeter now the most hated person in the building, sporting orange and black and a San Francisco smile that screams betrayal.

This surreal scene could be cemented in the next few weeks. The reigning AL MVP is currently in the Bay Area, where he was scheduled to meet Tuesday with the San Francisco Giants, perhaps the Yankees’ greatest competition to signing the Northern California native.