Miami Marlins rivals are suddenly crashing down

Peter Bendix may be rebuilding the Miami Marlins and is constantly shaking up the team. In the meantime, The Fish are seeing the division rivals seemingly completely fall apart. Things are seemingly only getting worse as time goes on. The Atlanta Braves are now facing a serious loss for this season. I thought that Atlanta would be much better this season. I'm still in shock of what's happening.

Miami Marlins division rivals are completely falling apart.

I'm still in shock over what's been happening this season. The Miami Marlins have been flirting with first place in the division. It's early but it's still fun to watch. At the same time, the Atlanta Braves have started the season on a massive losing streak and now lost key starting pitcher for potentially the entire season.

Reynaldo Lopez broke out with the Atlanta Braves last season. He pitched to a 1.99 ERA/2.92 FIP, with 9.8 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 26 games and 135.2 innings pitched. It was a stunning elite production from him, that was worth a very impressive 5.1 WAR. He never pitched like this before at all. He never even showed any Cy Young caliber stuff before, until last season.

Lopez's best season before last season came in 2018 with the Chicago White Sox. He pitched to a 3.91 ERA/4.63 FIP, with 7.2 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 32 games and 188.2 innings pitched. He projected as more of a mid-rotation starter at that point, not the ace that he seemingly became in 2024.

Reynaldo Lopez now needs an arthroscopic shoulder procedure, that will take him out for an undisclosed amount of time. We don't even know when he will come back, but Atlanta's hope is that he will come back this season. That's obviously not a very good prognosis, when it's not even clear when he will return.

Will the Atlanta Braves miss Reynaldo Lopez? Definitely. This season has been going terribly for them so far, and losing a key starting pitcher for an undisclosed amount of time is making things increasingly worse. I see the Philadelphia Phillies as winning the division at this point. Maybe the Miami Marlins have a better chance at the playoffs too.