Mar 8, 2025; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm (28) runs the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Toronto Blue Jays in the third inning during spring training at BayCare Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Nathan Ray Seebeck
The Phillies will host Skip Schumaker's Texas Rangers on March 26 at Citizens Bank Park to begin their 2026 season. Here's our second crack at projecting what Rob Thomson's lineup will look like on Opening Day against either Jacob deGrom or Nathan Eovaldi.
Turner spent the bulk of the 2025 season hitting out of the leadoff spot for the Phillies, and wound up putting together his best season in red pinstripes. He won the NL batting title by hitting ..304, and the 36 bags Turner swiped were hist most since 2018. There's no reason to mess with things.
The Phillies didn't add a big cleanup bat to protect Harper, so moving the two-time NL MVP up a spot in the lineup and having Kyle Schwarber hit behind him might be the best way to have him see more pitches. Scott Boras suggested to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki that getting Harper more pitches might be the best way to get him back to being "elite."
Schwarber clubbed 56 home runs, drove in 132 runs and posted a .928 OPS in 2025, earning a second-place finish in NL MVP voting and a new five-year/$150 million deal after getting the bulk of his at-bats out of the No. 2 spot in Thomson's lineup. It does seem a little weird to mess with that, but you could have said the same thing about moving Schwarber out of the leadoff spot last year. You get the feeling he's going to be very successful wherever the Phillies have him hit.
Had the Phillies signed Bo Bichette, he could have hit here or pushed Harper or Schwarber down in the lineup. Had they pounced on Eugenio Suárez's cratering market, they could have had someone with 325 career home runs hit cleanup in their lineup. Instead, Bohm is probably the favorite. The version of Bohm that drove in 97 runs in both 2023 and 2024 definitely has a place in a contending lineup, but probably more ideally at like sixth.
Marsh hit .300 with an .838 OPS against right-handed pitching a year ago, so he's actually a pretty appropriate person to hit fifth when the Phillies face a righty. Of course, the fact that he will likely be subbed out for Otto Kemp against lefty starters creates a hole in the middle of the order against southpaws.
The Phillies could consider having García hit cleanup instead of Bohm, but when they signed him to a one-year/$10 million deal in December, there was talk of not wanting him to try to be a hero. Having him hit cleanup on Opening Day against the team that non-tendered him might make it difficult to just ease into the season. Make no mistake, though, if the version of García that hit 97 home runs and posted a .777 OPS between 2021 and 2023 re-emerges, he'll wind up hitting higher than sixth in the lineup.
If the Phillies get the version of Stott who hit .294 with an .855 OPS after the All-Star Break, he's going to be an All-Star candidate. If they get the version of Stott who hit .234 with a .637 OPS prior to the Midsummer Classic, there's going to be a lot of talk of Aidan Miller taking over at second base when he's called up.
Since our first Opening Day lineup projection, Realmuto has returned on a three-year/$45 million deal that includes $5 million in annual incentives. One of the reasons there was some skepticism about that deal is that Realmuto, who will turn 35 in March, posted a .700 OPS in 134 games a year ago. Even in a lineup that lacks right-handed thump, he's not really a candidate to regularly hit in the middle of the order anymore.
The Phillies will try to minimize the pressure on Crawford as a rookie, but he represents the most obvious difference between their lineup in 2025 and 2026. The 22-year-old hit .334 with 46 stolen bases in 112 games at Triple-A Lehigh Valley a year ago, and even if he hits at the bottom of the order, there's going to be a lot of focus on him.
