Stayin' Alive

After dropping 2 of 2 against their in-state rival, the Marlins bats have woken up in Washington D.C.

The Marlins brought up Xavier Edwards as one of their September call-ups.

The Marlins fell to below .500 for the first time since May on Wednesday, mainly due to offensive struggles. The Marlins flew to Washington D.C. sitting at three games back of a wild card spot, and they desperately needed a series win for the first time since August 13th when they beat the Yankees.

The Marlins were one of the worst teams in MLB during August, as their playoff odds decreased by more than 25 percent. The Fish were swimming during June, going 18-9 during that month, but it felt like they had never been the same after. Some fans say that the two most notable times when the season started trending in the wrong direction were when Eury Perez got sent down and when Jonathan Davis suffered a season-ending injury.

With all that in mind, the door is still wide open for the Marlins to secure a wild card spot, as they are currently one game back of a wild card spot. The Marlins have started off September very strong, winning their first two games this month and scoring 19 combined runs in those two games. Miami’s bats are finally starting to live up to their full potential after improving on paper with the additions of Jake Burger and Josh Bell at the trade deadline. Bell and Burger have hit very well in their first month with the team, but the problem has been that they simply can’t hit with RISP.

A big reason why the Marlins were not hitting in August was because their most reliable hitter Luis Arraez was slumping. Arraez hit .236 in August and was moved to the #3 spot in the batting order, as opposed to batting leadoff as he had been for most of the season. After his struggles in the #3 spot, Skip Schumaker moved Arraez back to the three spot, and he’s looked a lot better so far.

The Marlins will look for their first series sweep of the second half this afternoon at Nationals Park with Sandy Alcantara on the mound, going opposite of 25-year-old Josiah Gray.

Jazz Chisholm’s three-run home run.