After a long winter, the snow has at last thawed. Spring is here, and more importantly, so is baseball. Tonight, the Yankees and the Giants will kick off the 2026 regular season with an opening night prime-time matchup at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
Now, we’ve got lineups:
Leading off is center fielder Trent Grisham, the Yankees entrusting last year’s breakout slugger with the job of setting the table for Aaron Judge, in his typical number-two slot. Cody Bellinger hits third and plays left, a spot he’ll be expected to hold down on most nights for the foreseeable future.
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Ben Rice, who rakes, bats cleanup and starts at first, the 27-year-old one of the most exciting hitters in the lineup to watch this year as the Yankees hope he can fully break out after a couple seasons in which his batted-ball data outpaced his actual results. Giancarlo Stanton bats fifth, looking to pick up where left off in his sensational, abbreviated 2025 campaign. The lineup’s depth becomes apparent here, as Jazz Chisholm Jr., he who posted a 126 wRC+ last year and has 42 homers and 49 steals in just 176 games a Yankee, plays second and bats sixth.
That’s about as good a top-six as you’ll find in baseball, and though the bottom of third of this order drops off, the weaker bats towards the end are all accompanied by superlative gloves. José Caballero bats seventh and starts at short, Ryan McMahon slots in eighth at third base, and Austin Wells bats ninth and plays catcher. He’ll be behind the plate for Max Fried, who went 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA in a stellar debut season with New York.
I don’t know about you, but that looks like a strong lineup to me, one that should give Logan Webb and the Giants everything they can handle. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 pm EST on Netflix. We’ll see you then.