No surprise, but Miami Marlins staff has struggled against Colorado Rockies

On the surface, this should be a pretty easy few days for the Miami Marlins.

Fresh off a surprising series win against the playoff bound Detroit Tigers, the Marlins head to Denver a mere 29 games in front of the Colorado Rockies in the standings. The two teams might have both been in the lottery last year, and could honestly both end up there again, but it's still hard not to think that a pretty massive gap exists right now between the two 1993 expansion teams.

However...there is the small matter of Coors Field to deal with. Playing in Colorado is baseball's great equalizer, with the only predictable thing about pitching there being how completely unpredictable the effects of altitude will be on a particular pitcher's stuff. Seeing as how the strength of the Miami Marlins is their starting pitching, the playing field could be leveled considerably this week.

Unfortunately, there is some track record suggesting that is exactly what is going to happen, as every Marlins starting pitcher going in this series has struggled against the Rockies.

The sensational Eury Perez? Not so much against Colorado- he's 0-1 with a 6.23 ERA against them. The good news is that this is the smallest sample size of the trio, as it is only the one start, and came in his rookie year no less. So while it was a terrible outing where he didn't even make it out of the fifth, and walked as many batters (3) as he struck out (3)...it's probably unwise to conclude too much from one game that happened two years ago. At least it would be if it wasn't for the whole "most pitchers do struggle at Coors" thing.

As for Ryan Weathers? Comparatively a much bigger sample of five games, and with significantly poorer results. Weathers sports an 8.44 ERA against Colorado with a horrendous 1.75 WHIP over 16 IP. Four of those were starts, so you get the idea of how long he lasted in those contests. In those games, he allowed seven home runs. Not good. All that being said though, there is one silver lining here for Marlins fans: none of those appearances came with Miami. All the damage came during his tenure with the Padres, which for the more attentive fans at home means that it came before the Marlins started fixing him. So while Weathers has pitched plenty in Colorado, this exact version hasn't. Maybe the new stuff will play better.

Finally, staff ace Sandy Alcantara. I'm sorry to say the Marlins ace has also struggled against Colorado. Things have been particularly bad for him at Coors- for ballparks he's visited more than once, only Dodger Stadium has proved to be a greater house of horrors for him. Not surprisingly, the overall career numbers follow the same pattern. Over five starts, he's a career 4.70 ERA against the Rockies, with a 7.56 ERA in three Coors Field appearances. The bright side here would be that only one of Sandy's five appearances against the Rockies have come in the last two seasons, and that one was a quality start at loanDepot. In other words, the Rockies lineups that gave him trouble were far stronger- not the league worst product they've out the past two years.

Hopefully, these Miami Marlins pitchers can start changing their Rockies narrative tonight and find some Mile High success.