Miami Marlins at Milwaukee Brewers: Three stories to watch

Advantage or Disadvantage For Miami Marlins Pitchers?

Lastly, time to look at that matchup on the mounds. Because despite all the prolific bats discussed on the previous slide, the Miami Marlins are looking at a strong pitching advantage in this one when it comes to their starters.

It all comes down to the return of a pair of former Cincinnati Reds in Dan Straily and Edinson Volquez.

Straily and Volquez have easily been the Marlins two best starters this season, so any three-game set where they get to send both to the hill is worth noting. It gets even better when you look across at the competition.

All three scheduled Brewers starters sport ERAs well above 4.00 for the year. Good numbers for a GPA, not so much for keeping Stanton and Ozuna in check.

History worth noting

There’s also the track record to consider. Volquez has a respectable 8-4 record in his career against Milwaukee, admittedly against teams looking very different from the one he’ll be facing. Still, he knows the ballpark, and has at least seen the scorching Braun before.

The big story is Straily, who has dominated the Brewers as recently as 2016. And I mean dominated: 3-0, with an ERA of 1.67 and 23 Ks in four starts. If he can capture anything close to that kind of magic Sunday, the Marlins should be in good shape for a W there.

The real wild card is that Saturday start. If it is Koehler, it needs to be said there are only two teams in baseball he’s faced that he has done worse against than Milwaukee. And he’s played those two teams a combined three times. When it comes to meaningful sample size, the Brewers are far and away his kryptonite. We’re talking a 10.13 ERA in six starts here. Kryptonite might actually be an understatement. We’re talking Doomsday numbers here.

Next: Too many variables muddy Marlins future

That’s all for this series Marlin Maniacs. Fingers crossed we bounce back in a hurry, and start July off right. This might be the last month we enjoy Miami Marlins baseball for awhile.

Meet you in St. Louis.