Will Venable’s Opening Day lineup offers an early glimpse into the White Sox’s preferred alignment for 2026, including a few notable decisions against Milwaukee.
Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable wasted no time rolling out his lineup for Opening Day on Thursday afternoon.
The White Sox held a practice in Milwaukee on Wednesday to prepare for Opening Day and the first series of the season. In a brief sit-down with the media, Venable shared how Chicago plans to line things up for Game 1 of 162.
There’s nothing too out of the ordinary here, with the White Sox facing right-handed pitcher Jacob Misiorowski of the Brewers on Thursday afternoon. Benintendi in the cleanup spot while Murakami bats sixth may not be ideal, but that’s something that could evolve over the course of the season as Murakami gets settled into Major League Baseball.
The one notable wrinkle is that the White Sox are sticking with Everson Pereira in right field despite him being a right-handed hitter. I had predicted Tristan Peters would be in the starting lineup as the left-handed bench option, but we may end up seeing more of Pereira than some fans expect.
Rather than deploying Benintendi in left field, Austin Hays in right, and someone like Lenyn Sosa at DH, the White Sox are opening the season with Benintendi as the designated hitter, Hays in left, and Pereira in right. That tells me this is Will Venable’s preferred alignment—at least while Kyle Teel remains on the injured list.
When Teel returns, it’s likely we see one of the young catchers—Teel or Edgar Quero—serving as the designated hitter when the other is behind the plate. That could push someone like Pereira out of a regular role. But that may also be exactly why the White Sox want to get a look at some of these players early.
With Teel and Brooks Baldwin on the injured list, Chicago has a chance to get an extended look at Tristan Peters and Everson Pereira and determine whether they belong at the big league level.
As we’ve known for quite some time, right-handed pitcher Shane Smith will get the ball as the Opening Day starter, taking on a Brewers team that won a franchise-record 97 games in 2025. It also happens to be a bit of a revenge game for Smith, who was selected by the White Sox in the Rule 5 Draft after being left unprotected and off Milwaukee’s 40-man roster following the 2024 season.
We’ve officially made it. First pitch between the White Sox and Brewers is set for 1:10 p.m. CT, with the game broadcast on CHSN.