Dream Detroit Tigers starting lineup for the 2024 season

Batting cleanup: DH Shohei Ohtani

No dream lineup would be complete without Shohei Ohtani DH'ing. There's little, if anything, new left under the sun to say about Ohtani. He's the unicorn, a perennial All-Star, the pitcher who got Mike Trout swinging for the last out of the WBC, a player who might get a record breaking contract despite a UCL tear that will keep him from pitching in 2024. If money were no object, every team in the league would be banging down Ohtani's door with all the money he could want.

Which brings us here. The Tigers don't have all the money Ohtani could want, so he's in this dream lineup instead. Because of course he is.

In Anaheim, Ohtani and Mike Trout went back and forth between second and third before Ohtani posted up at the second spot following a hand injury that cut Trout's season in half. Ohtani at cleanup would be brand new for him, but it would also set up a righty-lefty-righty-lefty order, an opening four stack up that would be dangerous for pitchers.