3 Key players for the Miami Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays Series

The Miami Marlins are in the thick of the playoff hunt and mlb.com currently has them slotted at 9th in their latest power rankings. The Miami Marlins are slated to kick off a three game series versus the Toronto Blue Jays Monday night at 6:40 pm at home in loanDepot park. Here are three players to watch for the series, as the Marlins hope to continue their hot streak at home.

Bryan Hoeing, Miami Marlins, SP

Bryan Hoeing gets the nod in game one versus the Blue Jays at home, as Edward Cabrera is on the IL and the Marlins rotation is thin. Hoeing started two games at the beginning of the season and had mixed results. The Braves took him to task on April 25th scoring four runs on six hits over 3.2 innings. Hoeing bounced back the next game on April 30th against the Cubs at home, going five innings and giving up five hits and two runs.

Hoeing's start tonight can either continue the momentum from last week or put a pause to it. The rest of the season he has been on top of things coming out of the pen. In May Hoeing had a 1.64 ERA through 11 innings pitched and in June has has pitched 6.1 innings and has a 1.42 ERA. If Hoeing has a good showing the bullpen can be fresh for the rest of the series, and not overstretched if he can only go three innings or less.

Jesus Sanchez, Miami Marlins, OF

Jesus Sanchez had probably the best catch of the season in Seattle for the Miami Marlins, and perhaps the best of the MLB. That play might have been Sanchez' only real significant contribution. Jesus Sanchez is playing right field and likely will start all three games there, to save Jorge Soler's knees from the tough turf and he needs to step it up at the plate.

Sanchez had an abysmal road trip, hitting .125 over the course of the 8 games he played in and with 3 RBI. He did not have any extra base hits over the whole road trip and has only had three for the whole month of June, all of which were home runs. Sanchez is hitting in the four hole Monday night and will need to prove he belongs in that spot.

The Fanbase is the biggest key to the series!

The Miami Marlins fanbase is the biggest key to this series however, as the players need to feel the love and get a boost from cheering fans in south Florida. South Florida sports fans have had a fun last few months and they need to switch sports now to be big Marlins supporters, as they are in the thick of the playoff hunt sitting at 41-31 and in sole possession of the top wild card spot.

The average attendance this season for loanDepot park has been pathetic, and perhaps some of it can be blamed on the Florida Panthers and Miami Heats' big seasons, but for a playoff team, they should not be ranked 2nd from last place in baseball.

The Marlins are averaging 11,586 fans in attendance at games this season with a total of 393,329, which is a mere 25,000 more fans than the pathetic Oakland A's. The Marlins need fans to come out all series long and enjoy the ballpark and the play of a team on the brink of making big moves at the trade deadline. With stars like Luis Arraez, Jazz Chisholm (IL currently), Eury Perez, and Jorge Soler, it should be easy for fans to come out and enjoy some big league ball.