Projecting the Detroit Tigers Opening Day Starting Lineup
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The Detroit Tigers are just one day away from kicking off their 2026 season with fans as excited as they have ever been for Opening Day coming off a huge offseason.
After spending big money to upgrade their pitching staff, the story of the spring was top prospect Kevin McGonigle, who has defied the odds and made the roster out of the gate despite limited minor league experience.
The 21-year-old will be in the lineup when the Tigers take on the San Diego Padres on Thursday after a huge spring showing that proved he was one of the best hitters on the team, although where he actually is playing in the field remains to be seen with both third base and shortstop as possibilities.
With Detroit facing San Diego right-hander Nick Pivetta, here is our best guess at what the lineup will look like on Thursday.
Tigers Likely Starting Lineup vs. Padres On Thursday
1. Kerry Carpenter, DH (L)
2. Gleyber Torres, 2B (R)
3. Riley Greene, LF (L)
4. Spencer Torkelson, 1B (R)
5. Colt Keith, 3B (L)
6. Kevin McGonigle, SS (L)
7. Dillon Dingler, C (R)
8. Matt Vierling, RF (R)
9. Parker Meadows, CF (L)
The question comes down of course to whether or not Javier Báez would be in the lineup at short with McGonigle at third, which would of course push Keith to DH, however while facing a right-hander it would likely make more sense to keep it this way.
Carpenter will likely platoon against lefties again, which would free up the DH spot for Keith and either put Báez back at short with McGonigle at third, or even push Meadows to the bench and Báez in center field.
For a manager in A.J. Hinch who loves to tool around with lineups, it seems he has more options than ever when it comes to this Detroit team.
Tigers Have Many Ways to Align Themselves
Detroit always likes to mix things up based on matchups and the most successful possible grouping of players depends heavily on the analytics of the pitching matchup on any given day.
What Hinch does is anyone's guess, but he is likely rubbing his hands together at all the possibilities he has for what he could do in terms of combinations and being able to hunt down the best matchups for success.
Nobody is better at it than Hinch himself, and with a better set of ingredients than he has ever had during his time in charge of the Tigers, things could get very interesting this season.
Michael Brauner is a 2022 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Sports Media. He covers various MLB teams across the On SI network and you can also find his work on Yellowhammer News covering the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers as well as on the radio producing and co-hosting 'The Opening Kickoff' every weekday morning on 105.5 WNSP FM in Mobile, Alabama.