Marlins Week in Review: Fish in Wild Card Race

After a rough couple of weeks with the Fish struggling against the Atlanta Braves and falling under .500, the Marlins were able to fight back and break even with their series win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Who has been the driving force for the Fish?

Top Performers:
Jesus Sanchez – The Marlins right fielder has been on a tear recently. He is currently batting .294 for the year and in the series against the Diamondbacks Sanchez had six hits with four RBI, and a home run in the rubber match. Sanchez has been on fire and boasts the second highest OPS on the team behind Arraez with a .927 OPS.

Jorge Soler – Soler had a fantastic week for the Marlins. Soler recorded four hits, two home runs and five RBI for the week. Soler was the driving force for the Marlins win over the Diamondbacks in the second game of the series, blasting two home runs that led to a 6-2 win.

Jesus Luzardo – Was clearly the pitcher of the week for the Fish. Luzardo pitched six innings allowing just one earned run, to go along with five strikeouts. He was the only starting pitcher that didn’t struggle.

Marlins Bullpen– Marlins do not win this series without their bullpen. After falling in game one because of their starting pitching, the bullpen was able to close on Luzardo’s gem and bail out Cabrera who only pitched 3.1 innings allowing four runs in the rubber match. The bullpen didn’t allow a single run the rest of the way, and the Marlins were able to win 5-4 and win the series.

MVP of the Week:
Marlins Bullpen and Jesus Sanchez– Both Jesus Sanchez and the Marlins bullpen share this honor this week. Sanchez was arguably the best player for the Marlins this week, and the bullpen held down the fort as the starting pitching has faltered early in the season.

Cause for Concern:
Starting Pitching-
One of the biggest concerns is starting pitching. Outside of Luzardo, the Marlins starting pitching has struggled and played inconsistently. The rotation has seen injuries to Johnny Cueto, Trevor Rogers and at one point Sandy Alcantara. Edward Cabrera and Braxton Garret both allowed four runs this week with Garret losing and Cabrera needing Sanchez and the Bullpen to save him from earning a loss.

Jazz Chisholm JR- The Marlins leadoff hitter is struggling to get on base. He is currently batting .221 for the year and has the second most strikeouts in the Majors.

NL East & Wild Card Standings
This week was a positive week for the Fish, they are currently second in the NL East, a half game above the Phillies and 6.5 games behind the Braves. Their winning week has them in the hunt as one of four wild card teams, as they are tied with the San Diego Padres with a 19-19 record.