Marlins vs Phillies Wild Card Preview

The Marlins will face the Phillies in a best of 3 series in Philly.

For just the fourth time in franchise history, the Miami Marlins clinched the postseason. The Marlins will head to Philadelphia to play the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday if a game 3 is necessary. The MLB introduced the best-of-three wild card format last season, in opposition to the previous single-game wild card that was in place from 2012-2021 (excluding the pandemic 2020 season). The Marlins and Phillies have played each other very closely throughout 2023, as Miami won the season series 7-6. Jesus Luzardo will start game #1 of this series opposite Zack Wheeler. Luzardo has had some success in his career against the Phillies, with a 3.26 ERA in 5 career starts. Meanwhile, Zack Wheeler has also had success against the Marlins, with a 2.48 ERA in 22 starts since 2013 (with the Mets and Phillies).

Miami will look to improve to 4-0 in wild-card games/series in franchise history, with their most recent wild-card win coming against the Cubs in 2020. However, this Marlins team only has a few players from that 2020 playoff team, with the departures of key players such as Brian Anderson, Pablo Lopez, Miguel Rojas, Jesus Aguilar, Brandon Kintzler, etc. With rosters going back down from 28 to 26, the Marlins are faced with a business decision. Matt Moore isn’t playoff-eligible, so that cuts down the roster to 27. I think Bryan Hoeing is a possible candidate to miss the playoff roster, as he has an 8.58 ERA in his last 15 appearances. Luis Arraez’s health is still in question, but I’d expect Luis Arraez to push his way through these must-win games as a DH while his ankle continues to heal.

You can watch all of the wild card games at 8:00 EST on ESPN. Go Marlins!

The Marlins have not played on ESPN since July 2021.

Luis Arraez hits for the cycle against the Phillies