Series Preview: Miami Marlins vs Baltimore Orioles

After an impressive 2-2 series split over the weekend against the Padres, the Miami Marlins hit the road for a short two-game series in Baltimore. The Marlins enter this series with a 4-7 record since the All-Star Break and winners of two in a row, but have struggled overall away from home this season with a 19-34 record away from loanDepot Park.

The Orioles on the other hand are coming off an impressive three-game series sweep of the Nationals over the weekend. Baltimore has however struggled throughout the 2021 season as they currently sport the second-worst record in baseball, only ahead of the Diamondbacks, as well as the worst home record in baseball with a 16-30 record at Camden Yards.

Miami Marlins (43-57, 5th in NL East) vs Baltimore Orioles (34-64, 5th in AL East)

• Tuesday, July 27 – 7:05 pm ET – Sandy Alcantara (5-9, 3.23 ERA) vs Spenser Watkins (2-0, 1.65 ERA)
• Wednesday, July 28 – 7:05 pm ET – TBD vs Jorge Lopez (2-12, 5.84 ERA)

In what will be the final series before the July 30th MLB Trade Deadline, there is a chance that a few of Miami’s regular’s may not play, most notably outfielder Starling Marte. Because of this, the Marlins will need some strong showings offensively from their younger players, as well as the recently returned Brian Anderson who homered in Sunday’s game.

Baltimore’s by-far best offensive player is 2021 All-Star outfielder Cedric Mullins, who leads the team with a 3.9 WAR and is slashing .317/.379/.538 with 16 HR’s, 35 RBI’s, and 16 SB’s. Orioles slugger Trey Mancini also enters this short two-game series with an eight-game hitting streak, as well as collecting at-least one hit in 15 of 17 games during the month of July.

Both teams obviously come into this short series playing good baseball, but it’s unknown how many regular’s we may see in the lineup so close to the trade deadline. Miami is arguably the better team, and they should take at-least one of two in Baltimore.

Series Prediction: Series Split 1-1