Every Major League Baseball manager’s dream is to have a lineup they can set and forget.

Of course, things rarely work out that cleanly in 2025. There are platoons to consider. Injuries happen, sometimes disproportionately affecting certain teams. And players’ performance can force change–both in a positive and negative way.

In 2024, the Boston Red Sox had a starting lineup that throttled right-handed pitchers and couldn’t touch lefties. They hope the addition of two-time All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman, a righty, will help smooth that over, but there is still a hefty left-handed presence for this year’s club.

The addition of Bregman presented some interesting questions as to how manager Alex Cora would construct the top of the order. Jarren Duran was always going to return as the leadoff hitter, but would Bregman bat second or third? Would Rafael Devers bat second, third, or perhaps even fourth?

On Wednesday, Cora gave early answers to those questions and then some. He hinted that his preferred top of the order combination to begin the season was Duran first, Bregman second, Devers third, first baseman Triston Casas fourth, and shortstop Trevor Story fifth.

“Everybody’s going to talk about protecting Raffy and splitting up the lefties,” Cora said, per Sean McAdam of MassLive. “If I can say the top three right now, it most likely would go Jarren, Raffy, Alex, in that order, to start off.

Cora said that having two patient hitters in Bregman and Casas after the top two, with the ability to work deep into counts, would help the Red Sox wear down opposing pitchers better than they have in years past.

“I think those two at-bats in a row, Alex and Casas, gives us a different dimension,” he continued. “We can let the big boys do their thing, be aggressive and solve the problem early on. And then, all of a sudden, we can slow it down. That’s one thing we haven’t been able to do in a while.”

As for the bottom half of the order, the Red Sox will have Wilyer Abreu in right field if he is healthy, Connor Wong at catcher, and Ceddanne Rafaela in center field. Then, things get very wonky for the ninth and final spot.

If Masataka Yoshida is on the Opening Day roster and not the injured list, and Devers is at third base and not designated hitter, Yoshida takes that spot. If Yoshida is on the IL and Devers is DHing, it will be a second baseman, probably either David Hamilton or Vaughn Grissom.

There’s clearly still a lot up in the air, but it’s nice to see the picture start coming into focus through Cora’s eyes.