Real season begins Friday for the Miami Marlins

Without question, it has been a surprisingly successful start to the season for the Miami Marlins.

The Marlins winning four out of seven games? Every game but one being close? Optimism that something good could happen every time out? Who could ask for more?

Before getting too carried away though, this first week does unfortunately come with some necessary qualifiers.

Namely, the fact that only one of Miami's opponents so far is supposed to be good this year.

Obviously, that would be the New York Mets, who are expected to contend to the end with Juan Soto leading the way. However, the Metropolitans have struggled so far out of the gate, and have a fairly questionable starting rotation that Miami was able to hold their own against for the most part throughout the series. Plus it was a home series, even if the New York transplants made that hard to realize at times. So that's a lot of warts there.

As for the Pittsburgh Pirates? Warts as far as the eye can see, except on the GQ cover Paul Skenes recently graced, of course. Seriously though, the Pirates can be said to have questions at 23/26 spots on the Opening Day roster. That adds up to two more stars than the Marlins currently have available to trot out there, but is still far from intimidating. The Pirates series too was played in the friendly, or at least not hostile, confines of loanDepot Park.

All that changes Friday though, when the Marlins head to Atlanta to take on the hated Braves.

And before you say it, yes, the Braves have been playing horribly. They have at most ONE victory heading into Friday, possibly none if the Dodgers worked their magic after I went to sleep. That puts them right in the NL East basement, with Miami sitting in second.

But they are The Braves. Playing against The Marlins, in Atlanta. It would be impossible to overdo the airquotes here. This series is every bit the mismatch the standings would suggest, with the caveat that the team with the losing record will probably be favored to win every game in the series anyway.

With the exception of long-time Marlin killer and one-time Jose Urena backstop Ronald Acuna, the Braves are pretty healthy? They're just struggling, in the way teams often do when the temperatures are cooler and over 150 games remain in the season. It's early, and records mean nothing. This is one of the deepest lineups the Marlins will face this season, and plenty of hitters in it other than Acuna have enjoyed success against them.

Secondly, the Braves haven't even played a home series yet themselves. Friday is their Opening Day, this weekend the first chance fans have had to come out and see them. It's not as if Miami is lucking into a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday series where tens of thousands won't show up because it's not a sexy matchup. Every seat will be filled, and every person there will be loud. That's not the kind of thing that'll phase Sandy Alcantara, but it might rattle 25 of his closest friends.

Lastly, this is just the most complete team the Marlins have faced. Even without Spencer Strider, this is a deep and talented pitching rotation with upside throughout. It's no guarantee that Sandy even pitches this weekend- that'll come down to how Miami chooses to manage their rotation. And after Tuesday's fatigue? I'm definitely leaning he's held back to Monday, even if that would mean facing the Mets again so soon.

The only break the Marlins are catching in this series is that in addition to ducking the still injured Spencer Strider, they should also miss out on Chris Sale and Bryce Elder. The benefits of missing the reigning NL Cy Young winner are obvious, but Elder has been annoyingly effective in his career against the Marlins. They still have to deal with Spencer Schwellenbach (which I spelled right on the first try, thank you) Friday, but things could be a lot worse over the weekend.

All the Marlins have to do is silence one of baseball's most explosive lineups. LIkely without their ace, and with an overtaxed bullpen. With precious little offensive firepower of their own to call upon.

The 2025 Miami Marlins have been scrappy, yes. The thing is, scrappy tends to just win close fights, against similarly classed opponents.

Atlanta is a heavyweight in every sense. Miami could not be more out of their class. If the Marlins take a series, or even just keep their dignity, on the road against these guys? Then maybe it is going to be a special season.

Of course, even then, there are still over 150 games left to go. Still a small sample size. Still a long way to go in finding out just how real this early success has been.

Marlins fans will start finding out the answer on Friday.