Dream St. Louis Cardinals lineup for the 2026 season

Batting second, catcher Ivan Herrera

This is where the fun starts to come with this dream 2026 lineup. Ivan Herrera will start at catcher on Opening Day 2026 for the St. Louis Cardinals, a position he stayed away from in 2025. Herrera also occupies a spot in the lineup that he occupied in 67 games last year, so he's more than familiar with the second spot in the lineup.

Ivan Herrera slashed .284/.373/.464 in 2025 with 19 home runs and 66 runs batted in last year. While his average dropped from his .301 figure in 2024, his slugging and ISO (.127 to .180) made huge jumps. Herrera proved that he can hit for power and average last year.

Injuries put parts of Herrera's season on hold, as he played only 107 games last year and barely eclipsed 450 plate appearances. Hopefully, the 25-year-old can stay healthy in 2026 and anchor the lineup.

At the number two spot last year, Ivan Herrera posted a .822 OPS with a .276 batting average. He was more potent further down in the lineup in the five or six holes, but placing him second allows him to continue to blossom into the club's best hitter.

There is certainly an injury concern for Herrera as he moves back to catching duties. However, don't expect him to see 100 games behind the dish. It's more likely that he sees a 50/50 split between designated hitter and catcher with Jimmy Crooks as his partner at catcher. This will allow manager Oliver Marmol to get creative when filling out a lineup card and play the "hot hand" as the game caller.

Placing Ivan Herrera, potentially the club's best hitter, at the second spot allows him to rack up plate appearances and do some damage at the top. His power potential is enticing behind Masyn Winn, and seeing him hit doubles in the gap ahead of Alec Burleson, Willson Contreras, and Brendan Donovan will be enticing.