The Red Sox won’t officially open the 2026 MLB season until March 26 in Cincinnati. But on Sunday, manager Alex Cora seemed to paint a pretty clear picture as to what Boston’s Opening Day lineup might look like as the Red Sox’ spring-training bout against the Blue Jays had several key fixtures in place. Here’s a look at Boston’s lineup from its eventual 11-10 win over Toronto. Roman Anthony DH Trevor Story SS Jarren Duran LF Willson Contreras 1B Wilyer Abreu RF Caleb Durbin 3B Ceddanne Rafaela CF Carlos Narváez C Isiah Kiner-Falefa 2B “Just trying to win this league [Grapefruit League] so I just felt that’s a good way to set it up,” Cora told MassLive’s Chris Smith on Sunday. “But yeah, it’s something I envision. And it just happened that for the first time in years what you see early is what you’re probably going to see on Opening Day.” Cora announced earlier this weekend that Anthony would be Boston’s leadoff hitter to open the 2026 campaign. Anthony hit leadoff in 27 of his final 32 games with Boston before suffering a season-ending oblique injury in September 2025. In those games where Anthony batted leadoff, the 21-year-old star batted . 336 with six home runs, 17 RBIs, and a 1. 003 OPS. Beyond his strong hit tools, Anthony’s plate discipline should also help set the table for the rest of Boston’s order. The next man up seems to be shortstop Trevor Story in the No. 2 hole. Story was arguably Boston’s most consistent hitter last season, batting . 263 with 25 home runs and 96 RBI. He has the pop to plate Anthony, although his plate discipline and swing-first approach (. 308) does make him an intriguing choice to put in such a feature role in the order. However, Cora believes that Story should be able to consistently plate runners being pushed so far up in the lineup. “What he did last year, the last three months, he was one of the best hitters in the big leagues,” Cora told Smith. “And it’s not about earning or he deserves whatever. But the guy stole 30 bags, he drove in 90-something runs, hit 20-something homers. “He was amazing hitting the ball the other way. And if that’s the case, he’s going to be surrounded by lefties, which at one point, they’re probably going to bring a lefty for Roman. He’ll face a lefty and he can cash in.” Boston’s first six batters in the lineup all alternate between lefties and righties, with three left-handed hitters in Rafaela, Naravaez, and free-agent pickup Isiah Kiner-Falefa rounding out the order. While there aren’t many surprises in this projected lineup, Kiner-Falefa known more as a versatile defensive option off the bench over blue-chip talent Marcelo Mayer is worth noting. Even though Mayer has seen a majority of his infield reps during spring training at second base, Cora noted earlier this weekend that Mayer will not outright earn a spot on Boston’s Opening-Day roster. “With Marcelo, like I said yesterday or two days ago, we’ll give him the baton, but he has to run,” Cora told MassLive’s Sean McAdam. “You know, if he wants to be the starting second baseman in Cincinnati there’s a lot of work to do. It’s not a given that he’s second baseman or third baseman for this team. “There’s a lot of things that he needs to show us this spring, and we expect him to do that because he’s that talented, but at the same time, there’s a lot of guys here that can do the job.” Mayer is still considered one of Boston’s top prospects after getting drafted fourth overall in the 2021 MLB Entry Draft. But the 23-year-old infielder has dealt with injuries over the last few years in the minors, and batted just . 228 with four home runs in 44 games with Boston in 2025. “He wasn’t great offensively last year,” Cora told McAdam. “He’ll be the first one to tell you that. Defensively, he was excellent. Base-running wise, he’s really good. But offensively, there’s more. We know that, but he has to show he can handle this.”.
https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2026/02/22/alex-cora-boston-red-sox-mlb-baseball-lineup-roman-anthony-trevor-story/
Alex Cora gives an early preview of Red Sox 2026 lineup
