Padres News: Predicting the Opening Day Lineup for San Diego

The highly anticipated 2023 season gets underway on March 30th at home against the Rockies. What will the lineup look like?

We're less than 50 days away from opening day for the Padres and, for the most part, it feels like there aren't too many question marks  for the team heading into spring training, at least lineup wise.

While the club waits for the return of superstar Fernando Tatis Jr who is serving out the final few games of his 80-game suspension to start the season, the potential opening day roster and lineup still looks impressive.

AJ Cassevell over at MLB.com took to task predicting an opening day roster for the Friars. But here we're going to have a look at what an opening day lineup might look like.

1. Ha-Seong Kim 2B
2. Juan Soto RF
3. Manny Machado 3B
4. Xander Bogaerts SS
5. Jake Cronenworth 1B
6. Nelson Cruz DH
7. Matt Carpenter LF
8. Austin Nola C
9. Trent Grisham CF

Things, of course, look even better once Tatis returns.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr RF
2. Juan Soto LF
3. Manny Machado 3B
4. Xander Bogaerts SS
5. Jake Cronenworth 1B
6. Ha-Seong Kim 2B
7. Nelson Cruz/Matt Carpenter DH
8. Austin Nola C
9. Trent Grisham CF

Some pundits have some concern over what could be considered a top heavy lineup, but if Cruz and Carpenter can hit somewhere close to their career averages and Grisham can return to his 2020-2021 form, then we're looking at one of the best lineups in the National League.