Marlins upcoming stretch of games is key to season
Don Mattingly is stressing the obvious: Every win the Miami Marlins can get at this point in the season is important.
That’s true considering their place in the standings and the juncture of the season. After a 5-1 loss to the Washington Nationals on Sunday to split a four-game series at loanDepot park, the Marlins are 33-44. They are in fifth place in the National League East. They are nine games back of the NL East-leading New York Mets. The July 30 trade deadline is just over a month away.
“At this point,” the manager said, “you can’t really look back and say ‘Oh it was still an OK series.’ You’ve really got to look game-by-game and think about winning every game.”
But as the Marlins attempt to stay competitive in the division — and both Mattingly and his players are still holding out hope they can make a run with just over half the regular season left to play — this final two-week stretch of games before the All-Star break is going to mean just a little bit more.
Nine of Miami’s 13 final games before the Midsummer Classic are against divisional opponents. That includes a six-game road trip starting Tuesday with three games each against the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves and then three more with the Braves at loanDepot park from July 9-11. A four-game home series with the Los Angeles Dodgers precedes the second round of games with the Braves.
And while the Marlins are 11 games below .500 overall on the season, they have fared relatively well against their divisional counterparts.
Miami is 14-12 against the other four NL East teams, including 5-2 in seven games with the Braves and 4-3 in seven games against the Phillies.
The Nationals are the only team Miami has a losing record against, just two wins in seven games.
“When you’re in division, these are teams that you’re going to be fight with,” Mattingly said. “Hopefully we’re going to be in that mix. I believe we are, but you have to beat the clubs in your own division. At this point it’s like every game, no matter who we play, we got to win, but obviously this next stretch here — you know, these guys in Philly, Atlanta, then back to the Dodgers and Atlanta again — it’s a tough stretch here. But you do have to beat these clubs.”
If not, a lot of action can likely take place at the trade deadline just over a month from now. The Marlins have players on who would likely attract offers from playoff contenders. Center fielder Starling Marte is on the final year of his contract. First baseman Jesus Aguilar has a year of arbitration left. Shortstop Miguel Rojas has a mutual option for the 2022 season. Closer Yimi Garcia is an unrestricted free agent after this season.
“It’s something they think about,” Mattingly said Friday. “They understand it. I think we all understand it. I do think it’s something that guys will think about, and we do need to get it going.”
And the Marlins believe they are better than their record shows.
They have been on the
wrong side of close games — 6-16 in 22 one-run games and 18-34 in games decided by three runs or fewer — and are the only team with a losing record and a positive run differential.
They have three starting pitchers in Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Rogers and Pablo Lopez that have given them a chance to win each time they take the mound.
But an offense that has faltered more than it has succeeded has held the team back. While the Marlins have scored at least eight runs 10 times
and have 11 blowout wins (defined as victories by at least five runs), they have also been shut out eight times and held to two runs or fewer 27 times this season.
“It needs to be that sense of urgency, of winning every single game, every single pitch, every single at-bat, baserunning, every single battle,” Rojas said. “You have to win every play so you can be a contender in this division. For me, it’s not too late to start thinking about it that way. And if we’re not going to make it, we have to show some fight. Looking forward
to continuing to do that, and just fight every single day. Sometimes we’re not going to score runs. We’re going to try to be aggressive, and it’s not going to happen. But at the end of the day, that’s the mentality that you want to have.”
The Marlins have two weeks to show they can play with that mentality and that it can translate into wins before decisions ultimately have to start being made.