With no off days during NLDS, Marlins’ pitching depth should be a strength vs. Braves
Don Mattingly looks up and down at his starting pitching choices and can only grin.
As the Miami Marlins begin their best-of-5 National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, Mattingly knows this is one area his team has a clear advantage.
Mattingly could feasibly have as many as six or seven candidates to start in this series.
“Better teams have better pitching in general and they’re probably deeper,” Mattingly said.
And with the updated format of the next two rounds of the playoffs, that depth should work in Miami’s favor.
All games for the final three rounds of the playoffs are being held at neutral sites. The Marlins and Braves, for example, are at Houston’s Minute Maid Park for the duration of the NLDS. Since there is no travel required between series, the off days that are generally in place after Games 2 and 4 have been removed.
The same will be true for the best-of-7 League Championship Series. The World Series, however, will still have its usual off days after Games 2 and 5 (if necessary).
So should the NLDS be extended to four or even a full five games, teams would have to dive into the back end of their rotations or go with bullpen games unless they are comfortable with having pitchers make a second start on shorter rest.
That’s where the Marlins will need to pounce on the Braves.
The first three matchups are set. Sandy Alcantara will start for the Marlins against the Braves’ Max Fried on Tuesday. Wednesday will be Miami’s Pablo Lopez against Atlanta’s Ian Anderson. And Sixto Sanchez goes Thursday for the Marlins against the Braves’ Kyle Wright.
Things will get interesting after that. The Marlins have pitching depth to go the full series, with top prospects Trevor Rogers, Braxton Garrett, Nick Neidert and potentially even Edward Cabrera available to either start or throw multiple innings out of the bullpen.
The Braves, meanwhile, have struggled to find consistent starters for the back end of their rotation. Atlanta manager Brian Snitker even told reporters there’s the possibility that the Braves will have to go with a bullpen game should the series extend beyond three games.
Mattingly has also shown a willingness to have his starters go deeper into games early in the playoffs. Alcantara, for example, went 6 2/3 innings in his playoff debut against the Cubs on Wednesday.
Of 36 pitchers to start in a wild card series game last week, only 12 went at least six innings.
“We’re a little different,” Mattingly said. “We trust our starters.”
“You trust those guys to go a little ways [into games],” Mattingly continued. “They are young and inexperienced, but it’s just baseball. That’s what we’ve tried to keep in perspective. Go out. Stay on the attack. Make pitches. Just compete.”
That starts with Alcantara, who has morphed into the team’s ace over the past year. He is comfortable throwing all five of his pitches for strikes and has learned to focus more on how he throws his pitches moreso than who he’s facing.
“I don’t care,” Alcantara said. “I don’t care if I face my brother, my dad, I don’t care. I just want to strike them out, do my job and be consistent.”
The rest of the Marlins’ rotation has held its own as well. Sanchez, the team’s top prospect, dazzled for five shutout innings in his first playoff game on Friday and has a fastball that consistently touches 100 mph.
Lopez was the Marlins’ de facto ace early when the roster was decimated by the COVID-19 outbreak. He’s 6-4 with a 3.61 ERA and 59 strikeouts against just 18 walks through 57 1/3 innings.
“It’s fun,” catcher Chad Wallach said. “To see that stuff every day and catch it every day and see it come out of the bullpen, it’s just fun and knowing how young they are as well. It’s just awesome to see for the future. But for me, any time you can have those arms for the playoffs, it’s going to help a lot.”
▪ Mattingly said outfielder Starling Marte’s status for the NLDS will likely not be decided until Tuesday. Teams have until 10 a.m. Tuesday to submit their 28-man roster for the series. Marte suffered a non-displaced fracture of the fifth metacarpal in his left hand in the first game of the wild card series on Wednesday.
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