San Francisco Giants’ Best Opening Day Lineup In Years and 3 Season Predictions
The Giants have a tough task on Opening Day against hard-throwing lefty Max Fried. On the other side, Team USA captain Aaron Judge will have to face a ground ball artist in Logan Webb.
The Giants still have a couple of lineup questions going into tonight as we see how Tony Vitello handles the reins as manager. Judge will be looking for a bounce back from his lackluster performance in the World Baseball Classic, while Luis Arraez will be looking to continue his superb hitting going into the regular season.
Opening Day Lineup
- Luis Arraez, 2B
- Willy Adames, SS
- Rafael Devers, 1B
- Matt Chapman, 3B
- Heliot Ramos, LF
- Jung Hoo Lee, RF
- Harrison Bader, CF
- Patrick Bailey, C
- Casey Schmitt, DH
- Logan Webb, P
Leading off Arraez is one way that Vitello could go tonight, and it’s the way I believe he will go. He will be a table setter for the rest of this Giants lineup and allow for there to be a base runner when Adames comes up to bat. With Adames in front of Devers and Chapman behind him, it will be hard for Fried to pitch around him, and it should give the Giants best hitter something to swing at when he comes up to the dish.
Ramos is great protection for Chapman, as Ramos is a lefty crusher and Chapman has better splits versus right-handed pitching. Bader is also battling a hamstring injury, and it is possible he does not play. If that ends up being the case, then Jung Hoo Lee will take over center, and you will probably see Jerar Encarnacion or Luis Matos make a start in right field on Opening Day.
Webb will be looking to continue his great performances on the rubber after two great starts in the WBC. He pitched 8.2 innings and struck out 11 batters in the WBC, only giving up one run on a homer by Lucas Ramirez, son of MLB Legend Manny Ramirez. He only allowed five hits and walked a batter during his two starts.
Lefty Magic
The numbers for Webb were good in 2025, aside from one thing. He let up 2 more homers and 24 more hits to lefties in 2025 despite there being fewer left-handed hitters in Major League Baseball. The Yankees have a huge advantage, having a potential six lefties in the lineup against him.
Austin Wells, Ben Rice, Jazz Chisolm, Trent Grisham, Cody Bellinger, and Ryan McMahon crushed baseballs last year, combining for 145 homers, most of them coming off right-handed pitching.
Giants Season Predictions
Coming into 2026, I wanted to make a couple of predictions about the San Francisco Giants. My first prediction is that Arraez will win his fourth batting title and reach 15 home runs, which would be a career high. He had a great WBC run, hitting two homers and four doubles in only 26 at-bats. He still hit .308 with an OBP of .367. My guess is he finds a happy medium in 2026 between his usual high BA and low slugging and his WBC performance.
My second prediction is that Devers will lead the team in homers with 40 and finish top three in NL MVP voting. Devers will have a great year and the best season of his career in 2026. I think he will also hit a homer on Opening Day.
My final prediction is that Bryce Eldridge gets a call-up before the summer and wins NL Rookie of the Year. He has looked good at the plate, and I think with some more at-bats in AAA, Tony Vitello will call him up to the Majors. Once this happens, I think he will rake in his first 20-20 season.
