Padres Opening Day Predicted Starting Lineup Against Tarik Skubal, Tigers

The San Diego Padres have arguably the toughest test of any team on Major League Baseball's Opening Day, as they start the season against reigning back-to-back Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal.

Skubal leads the Detroit Tigers to Petco Park to take on the Padres, who have right-hander Nick Pivetta taking the mound on Opening Day.

The Padres' lineup has been a major talking point all spring as manager Craig Stammen has tinkered with different variations of it over the last month.

He initially tried Xander Bogaerts in the leadoff spot, but that didn't seem to work. He then tried Jake Cronenworth in the leadoff spot, and that brought more success. However, Cronenworth is likely to only hit leadoff against right-handed pitchers — and Skubal is a lefty.

Stammen has just two days to finalize what his lineup will look like come Thursday. Here's a blueprint for the first-year manager:

Padres Opening Day Lineup Prediction

Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
Ramón Laureano, LF
Jackson Merrill, CF
Many Machado, 3B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Jake Cronenworth, 2B
Nick Castellanos, 1B
Miguel Andujar, DH
Freddy Fermin, C

Analysis

Let's start with the obvious: Tatis should be leading off.

Stammen seemed dismissive of the idea early in spring, then had Tatis hit leadoff in the team's penultimate game of Cactus League play.

His reasoning?

“He led off a lot for Team Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic," Stammen said. "I figured we might as well try it one time and see what it looks like.”

The Padres will need to get off to a strong start against Skubal if they have any chance of beating him. Tatis in the leadoff spot gives them the best chance to do just that.

After Tatis, the Padres should go with Laureano, who's another good at-bat, especially against left-handed pitching. He could help set the table for Merrill and Machado, before the Padres go to the back-half of the lineup starting with Bogaerts and Cronenworth.

Then, new additions Castellanos and Andujar will get the chance to do what they were brought in to do: hit. Finally, Fermin finishes things up, hoping to get on base for Tatis at the top of the order.

The main ommision is Gavin Sheets, last year's breakout star who had a strong spring. However, with the lefty Skubal on the mound, he'll stay on the bench, ready to pinch-hit for Andujar in the later innings of the game when the Tigers have a righty on the mound.

Padres Lineup Prediction for Rest of Tigers Series

The Tigers have the lefty Framber Valdez pitching on Friday, so the lineup should look the same as it does on Thursday. Then, on Saturday against the right-handed Jack Flaherty, it should look like this:

Jake Cronenworth, 2B
Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
Jackson Merrill, CF
Manny Machado, 3B
Gavin Sheets, 1B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Nick Castellanos, DH
Ramón Laureano, LF
Freddy Fermin, C