I am normally not someone who stresses out about the lineup...too much, anyway. There are instances when feeling perturbed is accurate. I mean, Kyle Tucker shouldn’t have batted sixth in 36 games last season. Did it matter all that much? No, but it is the principle of the matter as batting orders should optimize a team’s offensive capabilities. In other words, a manager should maximize the number of times their best hitters come to the plate.
We’ve all known for a while that Dusty Baker has prioritized inserting a right-handed hitter in between Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, two left-handed hitters.