3 takeaways from yesterday’s Miami Marlins doubleheader

3. The bullpen has become the “Achilles’ Heel” for the Miami Marlins

The Miami Marlins are losing way too many one-run games. 6-15 is a terrible record in those games and comes off amazingly unlucky. I don’t think that it’s a mystery to figure out why it’s been happening. The blame has to fall on the bullpen, as it has been surprisingly underperforming this season.

The bullpen keeps costing the Miami Marlins games.

The Miami Marlins bullpen has a 3.85 ERA/3.65 FIP. This isn’t terrible and doesn’t really underscore the team’s issues, but it’s clear that it isn’t exactly an elite unit. One obvious problem is the closing situation. Who is the closer? Is it Anthony Bender and his 4.50 ERA/5.36 FIP? Is it Cole Sulser and his 5.00 ERA/3.87 FIP? Is it Dylan Floro and his 5.40 ERA/5.54 FIP? It’s clear that these guys aren’t pitching like an elite unit.

Did you ever wonder what record the Miami Marlins would have if the bullpen pitched better?  I’ll tell you.. The Fish have 5 blown saves, so if all those leads weren’t blown, we’d have a 25-23 record (20-28 is our record). This isn’t far off from our 26-22 Pythagorean W-L record. The lack of saves cost us a winning record and it’s incredibly frustrating to realize that.

The Miami Marlins need better results from our bullpen. I do believe that the struggling pitchers are capable of doing better, so waiting seems to be the only logical solution at this point. It just doesn’t seem very practical to acquire anyone by trade at the moment and I don’t see any starters that make sense to convert into relievers. Had there not been a blown save, we would’ve won both games.