Miami Marlins Big Weekend Sets Up Pivotal Week

With zero exaggeration, the Miami Marlins just pulled off their biggest series win in nearly two months thanks to yesterday’s 3-0 victory over the visiting and NL-West leading Los Angeles Dodgers.

Unfortunately, when you’ve won just three series since the end of July, it’s easy to make those kind of statements without sparking a lot of debate. But with more and more injured contributors returning to active duty, and the Marlins getting dominant pitching efforts from front and back of the rotation alike, there might be just enough time left to squeeze a little more feel good freshness from this summer fling of a 2016 season that had all but turned stale.

So just before the clock struck midnight on the Marlins enjoying having the professional sports spotlight all to themselves, they turned in a weekend performance strong enough to make the few fans that noticed wonder whether or not they could safely shift their attention fully to football, leaving baseball behind them until the post-Super Bowl doldrums set in.

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Sure, you could argue that with a three game lead in the division and a corresponding five game lead in the Wild Card race, the Dodgers had little to play for this weekend. You’d be wrong, of course, but that never stops Stephen A. Smith, politicians, or whoever happens to be running the Cleveland Browns at the time.

That three game lead can easily evaporate, and is far and away the tightest division race in the National League. No one wants to play in a single elimination game, even if you have one of baseball’s top aces up your sleeve- especially if that ace is rusty and just returning from injury. The Dodgers desperately wanted to win, and threw their two best pitchers at a struggling Marlins squad this weekend in a bid to put some more distance between them and the Giants in hopes of avoiding that fate.

Or maybe the universe just loves Don Mattingly.

In any case, the Marlins shook off LA’s best punch, and proceeded to kick their teeth in. Which sets up a chance, perhaps the last chance, for a pivotal week that could launch them back into the playoff conversation.

Up next for the Fighting Fish? Six games against the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves, two of the game’s worst teams. Without parallel, it’s the easiest schedule slate this week for teams still fighting for an NL Wild card spot.

The Mets do get to play the MLB worst Minnesota Twins next weekend, but not before having to go head to head with a Washington Nationals team looking to put a bow on the NL East. The Dodgers get a gift series against the Diamondbacks, but not before having to head to Yankee Stadium.

Best of all though? The buzz saw that the St. Louis Cardinals are facing: three against the Chicago Cubs, and then four against the San Francisco Giants. That’s right- two of the three teams in front of the Marlins in the Wild Card race will square off for a four game set.

Opportunities don’t get much better than this.  The only downside is that someone probably wrote a very similar piece on the Pittsburgh Pirates website, considering their seven games against the Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds. But in the Pirates case, Miami has the edge in the standings, not to mention a key tiebreaker.

Next: Big Slides End

So there it is, a golden chance to gain some much needed ground. And thanks to that stomach-churning Week 1 loss the Miami Dolphins put up, it might just be a chance to steal back some of the South Florida sports spotlight as well. If the Marlins can go 4-2 or better this week, fans will be hard-pressed to find time for football. Because for the first time in a long while, there will be reason to believe the team playing in September that is most likely to taste the postseason isn’t the one playing on a gridiron.