Marlins have had healthy success with Phils, but aren’t that healthy now

NEW YORK — It took 162 games for the Phillies to figure out their playoff opponent. The preparation for Tuesday won’t take  so long.

The Phillies will take on an NL East foe in the Miami Marlins in the wild card series starting Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park in the 4-vs.-5 pairing.

The Marlins lost Sunday, but they won five of their previous six (plus were leading a suspended game in New York on Thursday that doesn’t have to be completed) to make the playoffs for the first time in a 162-game season since 2003, when the then-Florida Marlins won the World Series. (The Marlins made the postseason in 2020 and won a wild card in Chicago against the Cubs.)

The potential bad news is that the Marlins (84-77) took seven of 13 games from the Phillies, including four of six in Philadelphia.

“They’re a good club,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “They won the season series on us. They match up well with us, so we’ve got a lot of work to do. They can beat you in a lot of different ways.: They’ve got speed, great pitching and they’ve got a couple of guys with some thump in their lineup.”

These aren’t the healthy Marlins you may be used to, a team that has given the Phillies fits in recent years. Among the absentees is Sandy Alcantara, the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner who is shut down for the year with an elbow issue. Luis Arraez, the 2023 NL batting champ, has had just one at-bat since last Saturday thanks to an ankle injury.

The Marlins will start lefties Jesus Luzardo (10-9, 3.63 ERA) Tuesday and Braxton Garrett (9-7, 3.66) Wednesday.

“You’re going to run across really good pitching in the postseason,” Kyle Schwarber said. “I feel like we have a team that stacks up really well against any pitching staff. We’re going to go out there and do what we need to do.”

The Marlins might not be a great matchup for the left-handed power bats in the Phillies’ lineup, including Schwarber and Bryce Harper. Lefties Bryson Stott (3-for-4) and Brandon Marsh (2-for-5 with four RBIs and a home run off a lefty) take momentum into it from Sunday’s 9-1 win over the Mets.

The Phillies will counter with Zack Wheeler in Game 1 and Aaron Nola in Game 2. Nola has struggled against the Fish this year, allowing 26 hits and 12 earned runs in 16 innings and taking a pair of losses. Wheeler has fared much better, with 15 hits and six earned runs allowed in three six-inning outings, though without a decision.

Last year’s Phillies resemble these Marlins, having gone down to the wire to end a playoff drought, then venturing to a hostile wild card venue. The galvanized Phillies swept out St. Louis on the way to the World Series a year ago. This year’s season ending was much less dramatic, getting to 90 wins for just the sixth time since 1983.

“I think we have a little bit better starting pitching,” Thomson said. “Our bullpen right now is firing. And we’ve got Trea (Turner).”

Source: Berkshire mont