{"id":593270,"date":"2026-02-26T02:55:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T02:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/593270\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T02:55:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T02:55:36","slug":"where-giants-athletics-rank-among-best-projected-lineups-for-2026-mlb-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/593270\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Giants, Athletics rank among best projected lineups for 2026 MLB season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where Giants, Athletics rank among best projected lineups for 2026 MLB season<\/a> originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area<\/a><\/p>\n

The 2026 MLB season is fast approaching, and both the Giants and the Athletics have put themselves in a prime position offensively.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

In ESPN\u2019s MLB lineup rankings<\/a> ahead of the upcoming season, San Francisco was listed at No. 17 with a projected lineup wins of 81.0.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the younger A\u2019s team was ranked higher at No. 6 with a projected lineup wins of 84.1.<\/p>\n

The Giants added three-time batting champion Luis Arr\u00e1ez<\/a> and Gold Glove winner Harrison Bader<\/a> this offseason, adding to the core of Rafael Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently, the Giants are too slow to get injured,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Bradford Doolittle wrote. \u201cSo expect to see a lot of the same players standing around day after day playing station-to-station offense for a team with middling power.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cThe depth of the lineup, illustrated here by the star count, looks like a plus.\u201d<\/p>\n

While veteran hitters headline San Francisco\u2019s lineup, the A\u2019s will be carried by its impressive core of young players, such as 2025 AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz, Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson.<\/p>\n

The Athletics also acquired veteran second baseman Jeff McNeil<\/a> in a trade with the New York Mets, adding another veteran presence alongside two-time MLB All-Star slugger Brent Rooker.<\/p>\n

\u201cSlow and strong,\u201d Doolittle wrote. \u201cIsn\u2019t this kind of what you think about when it comes to a contention-worthy Athletics lineup?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe patience part of the dossier is not really on brand for the A\u2019s, however, and you do wonder if maybe there is some progress to be made in that department considering the youth up and down the batting order.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

There are concerns with both teams, including the Giants\u2019 baserunning and depth, as well as the Athletics\u2019 patience and durability.<\/p>\n

But with strong hitters on both projected starting lineups, expect San Francisco and the Athletics to effectively produce on the offensive side of the ball.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Where Giants, Athletics rank among best projected lineups for 2026 MLB season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2391],"tags":[537,5,22074,545,29878,365,1950,1332,85,379,4,3226,459,863,378,1949,852,4491,544,37771,103],"class_list":["post-593270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-athletics","tag-athletics","tag-baseball","tag-bradford-doolittle","tag-brent-rooker","tag-fast-approaching","tag-harrison-bader","tag-jacob-wilson","tag-jeff-mcneil","tag-luis-arraez","tag-matt-chapman","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-athletics","tag-nick-kurtz","tag-rafael-devers","tag-san-francisco","tag-the-athletics","tag-the-giants","tag-the-new-york-mets","tag-tyler-soderstrom","tag-upcoming-season","tag-willy-adames"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116134682769782522","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}