J-Hey is even more pronouncedly dominant there: his .982 us 200 pts higher than his next-best spot (excluding a small-sample 8th-spot, where he’ll never hit anyway–and he still tops his numbers in the 8-spot).

And another: both men become TRUE second leadoffs at 6, in the very likely scenario they come up with the bases empty (thanks to the powerful beauty of Rizzo, Bryant, Schwarber, maybe Soler hitting before them); they both are stronger on-base men than Fowler, both heady baserumners (w/Heyward our best).

Because they both perfectly complement each other on handedness splits, (Zo rips LHP, J-Hey RHP) bat Zo 2nd, Hey 6 vs. LHP, reverse it vs. RHP.

Kick ass.

I’d like to see Russell moved up in the order too. Even with a rough looking PECOTA, he’s still projected for 16 home runs and I’d like some of those to be hit behind someone other than the pitcher.

I think 2 and 6 makes probably the most sense for those guys to split up the high contact rates. Though on days when pitcher is hitting 8th, I can get excited about Zobrist going to 9, and Addison getting a shot a little higher up at 6 (might be nice for him to face less hard throwing relievers that way, once in a while), and Schwarb or Rizz going to 2.

Again, random.org could spit out a great lineup here, but it sure is fun to think about.

Line-up-ology is really fun with this team.