PHILADELPHIA — The first meaningful baseball game of the year brings the first lineup about which to grouse, dissect and overreact to.

Nine guys, nine batting positions, endless avenues for critique. And certainly the most important lineup of the year, right Rob Thomson?

“It’s just one game,” the Phillies manager said before Thursday’s opener against Texas. “That’s where we’re going to start. The lineup’s fluid, the bullpen’s fluid.”

Thursday’s opener brought Trea Turner hitting first, Kyle Schwarber second and Bryce Harper third in the eternal conundrum of how slight alterations could somehow unlock a whole that far exceeds the sum of its parts.

This year’s start is where last year left off. Turner hit exclusively in the second spot in 2024, then won the batting title last year with 95 of his 140 starts leading off. Schwarber won the NL’s home run and RBI title in 2025 with 99 starts in the second hole. Harper batted third in 117 games last season.

Whatever the quandary of who hits cleanup on a roster that doesn’t have a clear option for it, those three are set at the top, at least to start.

Thomson tends to be collaborative about his batting order construction, and it’s possible he will be again. But nine guys had to line up some way on Day 1, and this is it.

“I don’t think any of us really knew what it was going to look like, and once we got back to camp that final day, I was standing there on the line and I just thought to myself, ‘I wonder if this is it, if this is going to be what it’s going to be,’ ” Harper said. “Obviously, I’ll hit wherever he wants me to. I’m comfortable in the three spot. I’m comfortable in two, four, wherever he wants us, whatever helps us win games.

“I’ll go wherever he wants. I just want to win, just want to make this team better each day.”

The rest of the lineup follows from the consequence of two lefties near the top. With five lefties, there must be one pair back-to-back. Schwarber’s developing dominance of southpaws makes him the most impregnable to a lefty reliever.

If an opposing manager is trying to target as many lefties as possible, Thomson has buffeted that pair with Bryson Stott, who took great strides last season against lefties, in the five hole and Justin Crawford in the nine spot. Crawford’s splits against lefties in the minors are great: He hit .324 in 355 plate appearances against righties last year and .376 in 85 off lefties.

“I’d rather pair those guys up,” Thomson said. “Crawford hits lefties very well. Stott, the way he’s swinging the bat, hits lefties very well. So if they want to bring in a lefty for three out of four of our lefties, I’m pretty comfortable with that.”

The righties fill in around them. That means Alec Bohm hitting cleanup again, Adolis Garcia sixth and J.T. Realmuto eighth.

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Garcia is the biggest free agent signing this offseason. When the Phillies brought him in from the Rangers, they had clear areas for their new right-fielder to work on.

Twenty-eight walks in 135 games for the Rangers last year wasn’t going to cut it. While the 135 strikeouts is the price of doing power-hitting business — he struck out 194 times in 2021 when he was an All-Star who hit 31 homers — Garcia needs to get back to controlling the strike zone.

At least he’s not replacing someone historically bad at that adjustment in Nick Castellanos.

“He had a really good spring,” Thomson said. “He did exactly what we asked him to do: that was control the strike zone. He did that. Strikeouts were down, walks were up. Towards the end, he got his swing going. He started getting the ball in the air and hitting a couple of home runs. So I like where he’s at.”

Garcia went 11-for-40 with a double and two homers in spring. He walked eight times and struck out five. That’s a .408 on-base percentage. His OBP was a career-low .271 last year.

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Zack Wheeler was in town for introductions Thursday. On Saturday, he’ll head to Lehigh Valley to throw three innings and 50 pitches as part of his return from thoracic decompression surgery in September. Wheeler threw a bullpen at the park Thursday.

Wheeler is officially on a rehab assignment, which opens a 30-day window to return. If all goes according to plan, he could be with the big-league club in April.

Orion Kerkering (hamstring) will throw an inning Saturday at Lehigh Valley. The team plans to give him an extended ramp-up in the minors. He made only one appearance in spring.

“We’ll sort of build him like we build relievers during spring training,” Thomson said. “And he’ll get a back-to-back somewhere in there. Lehigh goes to Durham. He’ll go with the team. He’ll get a back-to-back in there. He’ll probably have, by the time he’s done, seven or eight appearances.”

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The Phillies on Wednesday designated Garrett Stubbs for assignment. He lost out on the backup catching job to Rafael Marchan for the second straight year and is out of minor league options.

Thomson called it, “a tough conversation, one of the toughest ones I’ve ever had, because I just think so highly of him.”

Stubbs has been with the Phillies since the pennant-winning 2022 season. He logged 434 plate appearances in parts of four seasons, though just five games last year. In addition to his clubhouse presence, he would be a valuable guide to young pitchers in the minors should he clear waivers and have a chance to accept an assignment to stay with the Phillies.

Stubbs was 5-for-24 in the spring with a double and a triple, around time with Team Israel at the World Baseball Classic. A late bid to play corner outfield didn’t allow him to beat out Dylan Moore for the final bench spot. Thomson says that Stubbs has the potential to be a “super utility guy.”

Thomson is split on the matter.

“For him personally, I hope he gets a big-league job,” Thomson said. “For me, personally, for the organization, we hope he comes back. He’s meant so much to this place, the energy that he brings, the type of teammate that he is.”

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NOTES >> Kerkering, Wheeler and reliever Max Lazar (left oblique strain) are the only players on the 40-man roster to start the season on the injured list. … Daniel Robert (heart) is not cleared for activity but is at home resting. He was hospitalized with a second occurrence of a cardiac event last Sunday. … Prospect Aidan Miller (back) is doing a throwing plan and light glove work, but the third baseman is not yet cleared to start swinging. Outfielder Gabriel Rincones, who is dealing with chronic issues in both knees, “is doing everything baseball wise, except playing in games,” Thomson said.