{"id":666726,"date":"2026-04-06T17:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T17:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/666726\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T17:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T17:09:17","slug":"early-power-rankings-point-toward-postseason-contention-for-marlins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/666726\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Power Rankings Point Toward Postseason Contention for Marlins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">The season is still fresh, but things are already looking promising for the Miami Marlins. Leading the American League East, the Marlins are 6-3 overall, with the New York Mets (6-4) following closely behind in second.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">Last year, Marlins fans were disappointed to watch their beloved ballclub miss out on the postseason action, but this year could be a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/marlins\/onsi\/news\/early-returns-on-marlins-prospect-robby-snelling-show-need-for-improvement\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">turning point for them<\/a>. Not only are they equipped with an ace as skilled as Sandy Alcantara, but so far, their offense has been quite solid. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">When the first set of power rankings was released ahead of Opening Day, Miami found itself in a frustrating position, claiming spot No. 24. However, now that the Marlins have kicked their season off on the right foot, they&#8217;re already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/marlins\/onsi\/news\/xavier-edwards-hot-start-could-lead-multiple-career-firsts-marlins\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reaping benefits<\/a> from their strong performances.<\/p>\n<p>Marlins Ascend Latest Rankings<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knhrjfg4wkcrtyp3x9.jpg\" alt=\"Miami Marlins Sandy Alcantara preparing to pitch,\" title=\"Miami Marlins Sandy Alcantara preparing to pitch,\" width=\"7673\" height=\"4316\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6z\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"73\">When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/mlb-power-rankings-april-6-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brent MaGuire of MLB.com<\/a> released his next set of MLB power rankings, Miami was expected to climb, but it wasn&#8217;t clear how much of a leap it would make. To the surprise of many, the Marlins found their new home at No. 16, and at this rate, fans should expect them to continue ascending. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">As noted by MaGuire, 30-year-old Alcantara serves as a major contributing factor in this improvement. However, their offense should not be overlooked, either. Liam Hicks is leading the pack with three homers and is slashing .333\/.414\/.750 with a 1.164 OPS through eight games. New acquisition Owen Caissie trails with two homers. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"79\">When taking into account the significant effort being put in by the ballclub, it wouldn&#8217;t be too far-fetched to expect a postseason appearance out of the Marlins this year. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7c\">Of course, it&#8217;s still too early in the season to definitively lean one way or the other, but assessing their recent performances at face value, it&#8217;s clear that they have something special that&#8217;s worth tapping into. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knhsnt0eaf5exk9940.jpg\" alt=\"Xavier Edwards high fives first base coach. \" title=\"Xavier Edwards high fives first base coach. \" width=\"8256\" height=\"4644\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7m\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Miami Marlins shortstop Xavier Edwards (9) slaps hands with Miami Marlins first base coach Craig Driver (81) after hitting a RBI single.  | John Jones-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7q\">By the time the next round of power rankings is released, as long as Miami continues to show up in a similar form, it&#8217;s likely that they will continue to climb further up. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7t\">They&#8217;re coming off a 7-6 loss to the New York Yankees on Sunday, and now they&#8217;re gearing up to take on the Cincinnati Reds for a four-game series, set to begin on Monday at 6:40 p.m. ET. Miami has an opportunity to continue <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/marlins\/onsi\/news\/marlins-announce-big-change-to-pitching-plans-against-yankees-on-sunday\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">turning up the heat<\/a> and make an imposing name for itself this season, but doing so will be no easy feat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The season is still fresh, but things are already looking promising for the Miami Marlins. Leading the American&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2288],"tags":[5,2328,2304,4,2305,2303],"class_list":{"0":"post-666726","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-postseason","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","10":"tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-mlb-playoffs","13":"tag-mlb-postseason"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116358871668515526","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}