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Miami Marlins Look to Make Jump in Standings

By Miller Lepree |

Gaining traction.

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This is the phrase most used by Miami Marlins associates, broadcasters, and fans alike in the last two weeks.

It might be a bit of a stretch, as the Fish have yet to find any sort of consistency this year. After an abysmally familiar start to the 2015 season, the Marlins are trying their best to put a run together and make a lunge towards relevancy.

With 3 out of their 5 best starters on the disabled list, a quality start had been hard to come by in the early goings. Now we’re well into June, and Jose Fernandez has already announced his goal return date, July 2nd.

That news has surely provided a spark of hope for Marlins fans.

Mat Latos’ uptick in velocity and strikeouts in his two starts since coming off the DL are encouraging signs. Henderson Alvarez hasn’t been given a timetable for return, but the “meh” Jarred Cosart is close to rejoining the big league team.

So reinforcements are coming, and most of them are coming soon.

There are plenty of question marks remaining all around, but if things go well for Jose & Co., the Marlins will look to position themselves for a late playoff surge.

The NL East is still a bad division, and the Nationals have still been overwhelmingly average.

The Marlins may be an ugly 29-39, but they are only 7 games back for the division lead. However, time is running out for the Fish to make a move, they can’t stay this far below .500 for much longer. The Nationals will get better.

While the Miami Marlins’ haven’t been “swimming” at full speed, Giancarlo Stanton certainly hasn’t been the man to blame. With an absurd 25 home runs and robust .617 slugging percentage, nothing has been able to stop this man. If Stanton can keep this up, which I believe he will, Fernandez and Alvarez might be just the boost this team needs to make a run at a Wild Card.

Christian Yelich has heeded Daniel Zylberkan’s advice, and is playing better lately, and Derek Dietrich has produced in Martin Prado’s absence.

All of those things need to continue to go well for the Marlins if they’re going to have a shot, if they want to claw their way back into the playoff race. There are lots of hypotheticals and dream scenarios that need to play out, but maybe the baseball gods will decide it’s Miami’s turn for a little baseball magic.

Hey, crazier things have happened, right?

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