THE CITRUS SERIES HAS ARRIVED!

The Tampa Bay Rays are taking their talents to South Beach where they’ll take on the Miami Marlins in a three game set.

The Marlins enjoyed an off day on Thursday and enter play with a record of 16-26, putting them 11 games back of the New York Mets and in last place in the NL East; they’ve lost their past six series in a row. The Rays meanwhile have won two series in a row and are now 20-23, and are five games back of the Yankees in the division.

At the 2024 trade deadline, the Marlins acquired one of the top prospects in the Baltimore Orioles system Kyle Stowers, and he has turned in the best season thus far for Miami. Entering play on Friday, Stowers is hitting .300/.375/.571 with 10 HR over 40 games, registering a 156 wRC+ and 1.2 fWAR; since the start of play on April 30th, Stowers has a 230 wRC+ which is the 5th best in baseball over that timeframe. Some other notable players on the Marlins roster includes Rule 5 pick and almost Ray, Liam Hicks (113 wRC+ | 0.5 fWAR) and Agustin Ramirez (136 wRC+ | 0.4 fWAR); Dane Myers was having a quality start to the year (139 wRC+ | 0.9 fWAR) but is currently on the Injured List. Former Rays farmhand Xavier Edwards is off to an abysmal start (78 wRC+ | -0.3 fWAR) after a breakout season in 2024 (128 wRC+ | 2.2 fWAR).

On the mound, Max Meyer has been the team’s top pitcher but he is the best pitcher on a staff that is among the worst in all of baseball. The Marlins currently rank 29th in ERA, 28th in FIP, 26th in HR/9, 30th in BB%, 24th in K%, and 29th in WHIP. On a team with an extremely weak bullpen, Jesus Tinoco and Calvin Faucher have been used as their high leverage relievers.

Frivolities
The top players by career WAR to have played for the Rays and Marlins:

Cliff Floyd
Charles Johnson
Nathan Eovaldi
Joey Wendle
Matt Joyce

The Rays best player offensively against the Marlins all-time (min. 25 PA):
Logan Morrison: .522/.560/.783 with 2 HR over 25 PA.
The next four are Fred McGriff, Josh Lowe, Brandon Guyer, & Randy Arozarena

The Rays most previous transacation with the Marlins
— 3/27/24: Rays trade Shane Sasaki to the Marlins. Yankees trade John Cruz to Marlins. Yankees trade Ben Rortvedt to Rays. Marlins trade Jon Berti to Yankees.
The Rays first transaction with the Marlins
— 12/12/11: Rays trade Jake Jefferies to Marlins for Burke Badenhop

Probable pitchers are projected by FanGraphs

GAME ONE

Friday, May 16th
7:10 PM EDT

RHP Taj Bradley vs RHP Max Meyer

GAME TWO

Saturday, May 17th
4:10 PM EDT

RHP Drew Rasmussen vs RHP Edward Cabrera

GAME THREE

Sunday, May 18th
1:40 PM EDT

RHP Shane Baz vs RHP Sandy Alcantara