Red Sox announce Opening Day lineup against Reds
The first lineup of the year gives a strong indication toward their plans with certain key players.
The Boston Red Sox have announced their inaugural batting lineup for the season opener on the road against the Cincinnati Reds. Much of it comes as no surprise, with perhaps a couple of notable absences.
Budding star Roman Anthony is leading off and playing left field, followed by shortstop Trevor Story, designated hitter Jarren Duran, and first baseman Willson Contreras in the cleanup spot. The names that are conspicuous by their absences are lefties Marcelo Mayer and Masataka Yoshida, who are ostensibly sitting for the Opening Day matchup against southpaw Andrew Abbott. Read below for the full Red Sox lineup.
LF Roman Anthony
SS Trevor Story
DH Jarren Duran
1B Willson Contreras
3B Caleb Durbin
RF Wilyer Abreu
2B Isiah Kiner-Falefa
C Carlos Narváez
CF Ceddanne Rafaela
Newcomer Caleb Durbin is starting at third base and batting fifth. Durbin is coming off a strong spring at the plate, where he slashed .354/.446/.500 with five doubles and a triple in 52 plate appearances, along with nine stolen bases. His presence in the five-hole means he may be counted on to improve his power output from 2025 (11 home runs in 506 plate appearances), but he could make up for that with speed and steals. He also has good protection behind him with Abreu (22 homers in 417 PAs last season) batting sixth.
Leading off the season with Kiner-Falefa over Mayer is arguably the most notable development, but not terribly surprising, as they'd been trending toward a platoon at second base over the course of the spring. The Red Sox apparently still need to see more out of Mayer offensively before being convinced he can be an everyday player for them.
First pitch is set for 4:10 p.m. EST at Great American Ballpark.
