Marlins’ series win over Phillies was big. A strong homestand finish sets up bigger goals
The excitement is in the air, almost reaching the heights that Lewis Brinson and Monte Harrison soar during their postgame celebration in the outfield. The team is feeling confident, something that has been evident since they stepped foot in Jupiter to start spring training way back in February when the season was normal, before the coronavirus took hold, before a 162-game season was slashed to 60 games and a regional schedule.
The results are coming in their favor. The “Why Not Us?” mantra is starting to become a reality.
What they accomplished during the first half of their final homestand was the latest, most important test of their season.
They passed.
The Miami Marlins won five of seven games against the Philadelphia Phillies. In five days, with a pair of doubleheaders mixed in, the Marlins now have a one-and-a-half game lead over Philadelphia for second place in the National League East, which guarantees a playoff spot this year, and have set themselves up to appear in the playoffs for the first time since 2003.
“Those were huge games for us,” outfielder Matt Joyce said. “We knew going into that series we wanted to play some good baseball and walk away where we’re at. We played really well and we’re excited to be in the position we’re in.”
Accomplishing the next part of their goal will require the Marlins (24-21) to replicate that type of success over the second half of their 15-game homestand.
The Marlins begin a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox (17-31) at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday and then host the Washington Nationals (17-28) for five games over three days starting Friday. Eight games in six days against two of MLB’s bottom five teams in terms of win-loss record. After that, it’s four games in Atlanta against the Braves before closing the regular season with three games at the New York Yankees.
With the Marlins’ current standing — they enter Tuesday just two-and-a-half games behind the Braves (28-20) in the NL East — the final stretch is yet another testing point.
Instead of squeaking into an expanded playoff field, a dominant close to an already dominant homestand would put the Marlins in prime position to enter the last week of the regular season contending with the Braves for their first ever divisional crown.
“Just want to keep it simple and keep it in perspective for our guys,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Just play them one at a time. From the very beginning, you talk about for whatever reason, we were in a pennant race, and pennant race baseball is probably the best baseball you can play at this level because every day is important. ... Keep it simple. Be ready to play. Whatever happens happens. We can’t be flying around after this series like something happened.”
Importance of playoff seeding
With this playoff format for this pandemic-impacted season, seeding and opening-round opponents could be the difference between a long postseason run and a first-round exit.
Eight teams from each league are playing in the postseason: The top two teams in each division and the next two best teams in each league by record.
All 16 teams play a best-of-3 series in the Wild Card round, with the top four seeds in each league (the three division winners and the division runner-up with the best record) hosting those games in their home ballpark. MLB will move to bubbles for the rest of the postseason, with the National League playing in Texas and the American League playing in Southern California, according to multiple reports.
Heading into Tuesday, the Marlins are the No. 5 seed. That would make them the road team against the No. 4 seed, which is most likely going to be the runner-up in the NL West — either the Los Angeles Dodgers (33-15) or San Diego Padres (32-17) depending on how the final two weeks shake out.
However, should the Marlins unseat the Braves and win the NL East, they will be either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in most scenarios. As the No. 2 seed, Miami would face the top wild card team in the first round of the playoffs (currently the Phillies). The No. 3 seed faces the No. 6 seed, or the divisional runner-up with the lowest record (currently the St. Louis Cardinals).
“We have a tough road still,” Mattingly said. “... There’s a lot of baseball to be played in this style.”
‘You have to respect these guys’
The fact that the Marlins are in this position feels like a win by itself.
This is a team that was projected to once again finish near the bottom of the standings when the season began. Then, they lost a week and 18 players from their active roster due to a COVID-19 outbreak. The running count of roster moves is 153 since Opening Day. A franchise-record 18 players have made their MLB debuts.
Yet here they are, holding firm in the playoff race.
“You have to respect these guys,” Mattingly said. “They play hard. They work together. They’ve had big wins when we needed them. I just look at it as real. Nationally, before the season, no one was really thinking about the Marlins at all, but we felt pretty good about ourselves. Who knows what happens over a long season, but our guys felt confident during spring training and the way it was shaping up that we could make a little noise. I think we’re just doing what we believed we could do.”
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