Miami Marlins look to reboot after much needed day off

The Miami Marlins will be looking to bounce back after having the day off yesterday. They’ve gone 3-12 since their last day off and are falling behind quickly.

After starting the season 11-8, the Miami Marlins have landed on hard times. You can smell doomsday in the air, and fears exists that the team will be out of the playoff race by the end of May. The pitching has fallen off, the hitting has fallen off; players are falling off the active roster. Most notably, the Marlins are falling off the pace of the playoff race.

The season is young, and there is plenty of time to turn things around. Seven games under .500, the Marlins would need to go 13-5 the rest of the month to be even. That means winning every series that remains in May, and taking two games against the Athletics.

What needs to happen

A lot of things.

The Marlins are looking at a difficult stretch to end the month. They face a west coast trip that includes visiting the Los Angeles Dodgers for four games. Currently sitting at 20-14, the Dodgers are a serious World Series contender. The Marlins will need to take three-of-four.

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They’ll draw a three game series with the Houston Astros. Fortunately, this will be at Marlins Park. The Astros are one of baseballs best teams, and are off to a 23-11 start. The Astros haven’t lost a series all month, and only two all year. The Marlins will need to take two-of-three.

What’s worse? They face the two teams back-to-back, so throw in a long travel day, with no rest, on a game day.

Additionally: they’ll need to take two-of-three from the Braves, both games against the Athletics, and two against the Angels and Phillies to close the month. That’s a lot of winning for a team that has looked lost the past two weeks.

Miami Marlins have the pieces to win games

But don’t take the poor performance over the last 15 games as an indisputable indictment on this Marlins team. Despite their string of bad results, they feature a potent offense, and a meticulously constructed bullpen. They have several capable pieces in the starting rotation.

The Marlins were 11-8 before a game against the Phillies was postponed on the 25th of April. Before that, even the games they lost were close. They were hard fought losses, not instances of self-sabatoge. Things have gone down hill quickly since then.

But the good news is that the Marlins are clearly capable of playing  winning baseball. The key will be starting pitchers going deeper into games. The 2017 version of the Marlins were designed to work that way. Starting pitchers aren’t expected to go past the sixth, but they need to get out of the third.

No bullpen a bullpen in the world that can sustain game, after game of being called upon so early.

Next: Miami Marlins: Don Mattingly’s ejections not about frustration

With players expected to return from the disabled list throughout this month, Miami can expect some reinforcements soon. All teams hit a rough patch at some point in the season. If this is the worst stretch for the Miami Marlins all year, they’ll be in the playoffs come October.