Miami Marlins vs. Arizona Diamondbacks: 3 Stories To Watch

Will This Hot Pace Continue? 

Over the past week, the Miami Marlins have been rolling. Season long numbers have Arizona outperforming Miami in just about every way possible outside of a narrow gap in batting average. The past week though? The disparity is glaring, and it’s all in the Marlins favor.

Hitting and pitching alike sees the Fish way ahead of the D-Backs. Tied for the NL lead in runs, tops in average, second in HRs….things are clicking in a big way. The past week of pitching has suddenly seen the Marlins post the third best ERA in the NL, and fourth best in the entire league.

Arizona hasn’t been bad my any means on the mound- twelfth best in the game over that stretch. The teams have also gone an identical 7-3 over their last ten games. But an ERA of 2.76 stacked against a 3.48 one is a significant edge, especially when the team with the pitching advantage is batting .296 as opposed to .238. Scoring will be the story here. If the Marlins can keep putting up runs- they’ve been averaging nearly 6 runs per game during this run- they should be able to pull off the split. At minimum.

Positive pitching numbers aside, I would not expect to enjoy a series of pitcher’s duels. If the Marlins aren’t clubbing their way to victory, the Diamondbacks will have plenty to go clubbing about this weekend.