Miami Marlins can make a statement this weekend

The Miami Marlins begin the final weekend series in August against the last place National League East Washington Nationals.  The Marlins have completed their major gauntlet of the season and now have the rest of the season to make a push towards October play.  

The Marlins sit two games out of the last wild card playoff spot and they need to go on a streak, starting this weekend.  The Marlins are currently below .500 for the month but could end up 14-13 if they have a perfect finish.   The Nationals and Tampa Bay Rays are both ripe for the picking and the Marlins could make it to the goal of an above .500 month.   

The NL Wild Card competitors will be facing each other for the most part which gives a big opening to the Marlins if they hope to regain their position among the wild card teams.  The Reds face off with the Diamondbacks and the Giants, while the Giants also play Atlanta.  The Cubs, Reds, Diamondbacks, and the Giants all have a more difficult final schedule than the Marlins.  Now is the Marlins opportunity and there isn’t much time.  

There is little more than a month left to play and the Marlins schedule is very winnable.  The Marlins need to take advantage of their series against the Nationals twice, the Mets twice, the Pirates, and take down the division and Wild Card rival Phillies.  It may come down to the finals series or two and the Marlins are on the road but are facing the Mets and Pirates, which could make for a much smoother finish.  

I can see the Marlins ending up with 94 wins which should be enough to secure a spot in the playoffs but it will be tight.  If they play their best baseball of the season they could top out at 98 but that would be very difficult to come by and is not likely.  In order to break into the low 90s the Marlins pitching and hitting will have to come together and play well at the same time, which is very possible.  

Marlins bats have been hot and cold so far in August with only newcomers Jake Burger and Josh Bell being hot.   It will take more than  two hitters to make it happen, so Jazz, DLC, or Berti will have to really step up.  The Marlins could find that additional big spark from their September call up players.  

One thing is for sure they could use a surprise September call up pitcher who can eat innings and keep the offense in the game.  As Neil wrote, linked below, they have a few tough series in September, but I think they have more easy series than the other wild card teams so that could play into the Marlins favor, you decide.