The Miami Marlins were a last-place team in early June. They’ve been one of the best MLB teams since then. What changed? By far the biggest difference-maker has been the quality of their starting pitching.
That’s what has made this Houston Astros series so out of character. In getting hit hard on Monday, at least Sandy Alcantara saved the bullpen by continuing to attack the strike zone and completing seven innings. But following that up with Cal Quantrill‘s terrible showing the next night—lasting just 4 â…“ frames—was deflating. By Game Score, Quantrill (16) had the worst outing by any Marlins starter since April.
Trailing both the New York Mets and San Diego Padres by seven games with 50 left to play, the Marlins have barely any margin for error. Scheduled to play 28 of those games in the next 29 days, they need both run prevention and volume from their SPs to be playing meaningful games in September.
Down on the farm, 2025 MLB Draft picks Aiva Arquette (Round 1 pick), Brandon Compton (2), Max Williams (3), Drew Faurot (4), Chris Arroyo (5), Carson Laws (14) and Cannon Pickell (20) played their first official games as members of the Marlins organization. Arquette and Compton debuted with High-A Beloit, while the others did so with Low-A Jupiter.
Emilio Barreras (8), Wilson Weber (12) and Chase Renner (13) are likely to debut tonight.
In addition to the previously mentioned Brock Vradenburg, minor leaguers Matt Mervis, Rob Brantly, Jun-Seok Shim, Jake Thompson, Harrison Spohn, Josh Zamora, Ricky DeVito, Jorge Mercedes and Wilfredo Henriquez were released, creating room for the draft picks to be activated. Their MiLB stats from this season are posted below. Also, Wilfredo Lara was suspended, presumably for his role in this benches-clearing incident last Saturday.
More Marlins news and content below:
🔷 Jakob Marsee is exceeding even the most optimistic projections thus far. His 359 wRC+ since debuting on Friday is third-best in the majors (min. 10 PA), plus he’s doing well defensively in center field. His 0.7 fWAR through five games this season matches Luis Arraez’s output through 108 games! Marsee was part of the prospect package that the Marlins received for Arraez last year.
🔷 Alex Krutchik updates where AgustÃn RamÃrez stands in the National League Rookie of the Year race.
🔷 Kyle Stowers was named the 2025 Miami Marlins Heart and Hustle Award winner by the MLBPAA. Previous Marlins winners include Jon Berti (2022), Luis Arraez (2023) and Jake Burger (2024).
🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Nathan Eovaldi has been MLB’s best starting pitcher this season when healthy. Eight more scoreless innings on Tuesday lowered his ERA to 1.38. Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández each had multi-homer games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 12-6 win. It had been more than a month since they previously topped seven runs in a game. Shea Langeliers tied a modern era record for most total bases by a catcher in a game with 15.
🔷 Today’s MLB game: the Marlins will try to salvage the finale of their series against the Astros (probable starters RHP Janson Junk and RHP Spencer Arrighetti). Jose Altuve is having another big series. He has a lifetime 1.008 OPS in 23 games against the Fish, his best vs. any opposing team. The Marlins have a 48.7% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 4:40 p.m. ET.
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