Dodgers: Predicting LA's Opening Day Lineup
It would be hard enough to predict the Dodgers' Opening Day roster right now, let alone their lineup that day. But what are we here for if not to take on hard tasks? So let's do our best to predict what lineup LA manager Dave Roberts will write out when Los Angeles takes on the Diamondbacks on March 30.
Mookie Betts will lead off, of course. Beyond that, the order gets murky. Freddie Freeman batted second a lot of last year, not moving to the three-hole until after Betts returned from his rib injury in early July. Let's pencil Freddie in at number two for now and see if anything changes our mind later.
Will Smith, Max Muncy, and JD Martinez have all played their share of games in the cleanup spot, and you could make a case for any of them there this year. Those three seem like the logical 3-4-5 hitters in this lineup, but you could almost draw their names out of a bowl to decide the order. We'll go with Smith batting third, Martinez fourth, and Muncy fifth, although we'd expect that order to bounce around some throughout the season.
We've now covered the top five spots in the lineup and RF, 1B, C, 3B, and DH defensively. Let's look at who the last four starters will be, and then we'll figure out the batting order. Miguel Vargas will start at 2B, with Gavin Lux at SS. We expect James Outman to get the bulk of the at-bats in center field, and with right-handed pitcher Zac Gallen presumably on the mound for Arizona, it makes sense for Outman to get the start. That leaves left field, where our options are Chris Taylor, Trayce Thompson, and either Jason Heyward or Michael Busch, depending on which one makes the roster.
Taylor is the veteran of that group, but he's also the only one with the platoon disadvantage, as Heyward and Busch both bat left-handed and Thompson was significantly better against righties last year. On the other hand, Gallen is actually quite a bit tougher on lefties than righties because of his great changeup, which makes us start questioning the Outman pick. But we're not going there, Outman stays in center, but Taylor gets the start in left because of his veteran status, if nothing else.
So how do we arrange those last four batters in the lineup? Let's start at the end — we really liked Lux in the nine-hole last year, setting the table for the top of the lineup, so we'll have him there. Outman bats eighth, as the least experienced bat in the group. You could probably flip a coin between Taylor and Vargas at six and seven, but we'll put Vargas lower just to reduce the pressure a little bit.
That gives us this Opening Day lineup:
- Mookie Betts, RF
- Freddie Freeman, 1B
- Will Smith, C
- JD Martinez, DH
- Max Muncy, 3B
- Chris Taylor, LF
- Miguel Vargas, 2B
- James Outman, CF
- Gavin Lux, SS
Spring training could totally change this, but if Roberts had to write out his Opening Day lineup right now, we think it would look something like that.
