One of the biggest attractions of this year’s WBC is the presence of some power-packed lineups that can do damage from top to bottom. The San Diego Padres are well-represented in this category, with third baseman Manny Machado and right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. hitting in a stacked batting order for the Dominican Republic.
Machado, for instance, will hit fifth in the Dominican lineup, which is rather amazing given his proven ability to come through in the clutch, not to mention the fact that he’s virtually certain to make the Hall of Fame as a third baseman. It’s hard to argue with the call, though, when the third and fourth hitters are Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., respectively.
Tatis, meanwhile, will return to his accustomed place at the top of the lineup, which is interesting given that the Padres are considering dropping him to the cleanup slot to increase the potential of his power production.
It’s manager Albert Pujols who will be making out the lineup card for the Dominican Republic, and he certainly doesn’t mind having these kinds of tough decisions.
“Everybody dreams to have a lineup like this,” Pujols said in a piece written by Marc Feinsand of MLB.com. “Everybody can produce from top to bottom, and it gives me flexibility to play with it. I'm really excited about the lineup that we're going to put on the field tomorrow and hopefully the rest of the tournament.”
The expectations the lineup creates are another matter entirely, though, according to Tatis. The Dominican lineup has been dubbed the “best ever,” and the challenges that come with that designation are formidable.
“I definitely think it's even a harder deal for us because all the expectation is out there,” Tatis said. “It's definitely an All-Star team, but there's a job to be done. Really big expectations, and we’re just looking forward to that challenge.”
Dominican GM Nelson Cruz played in a lot of power-packed lineups in which he supplied plenty of pop, and when he put together this lineup he focused on clear messaging about the roles and performance expectations.
“We want players that can be flexible,” Cruz said. “The first message and what we [made] clear to the players was their roles, how we're going to use them. That message was very clear; we want to have players be able to perform and we created a team where no matter what situation, Albert would feel free to take the best from those players in any scenario that we can find.”
The caveat here is that this lineup will face some great pitching, especially with the stacked staff of Team USA. Not to mention defending champions Samurai Japan, who have been able to ride the spectacular two-way performances of Shohei Ohtani and get to the top of the mountain in this exciting international classic.