{"id":45710,"date":"2026-08-15T02:38:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T21:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45710"},"modified":"2026-08-15T02:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T21:38:25","slug":"road-trip-could-decide-marlins-playoff-chances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45710","title":{"rendered":"Road Trip Could Decide Marlins\u2019 Playoff Chances"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>You could make an argument that the <a data-ylk=\"slk:Miami Marlins';elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Miami Marlins'&quot;,&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" href=\"https:\/\/roundtable.io\/sports\/mlb\/marlins\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Miami Marlins&#8217;<\/a> six-game road trip, which begins Friday at 6:10 p.m. ET against the <a data-ylk=\"\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/teams\/cincinnati\/\" rel=\"\">Cincinnati Reds<\/a> at Great American Ball Park,\u00a0has\u00a0huge playoff implications.<\/p>\n<p>Coming off a 4-2 homestand in which the Marlins should&#8217;ve finished 5-1, the club sits at 62-60, two and a half games out of the final National League Wild Card spot.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The Marlins lead the Reds by three games in the standings, with Miami having played two more games than Cincinnati.<\/p>\n<p>The two clubs split a four-game series in early April at loanDepot park, with the Reds taking the first two games before the Marlins won the final two.<\/p>\n<p>After scoring just one run in Thursday&#8217;s series finale against the <a data-ylk=\"\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/teams\/pittsburgh\/\" rel=\"\">Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a>, the Marlins will face Reds right-hander <a data-ylk=\"\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/players\/64316\/\" rel=\"\">Chase Burns<\/a> on Friday. Burns, an All-Star this season, is 13-2 with a 2.61 ERA and has struck out 143 batters in 124 innings.<\/p>\n<p>The matchup will test Miami&#8217;s offense immediately, especially after its quiet showing Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Burns has been among the National League&#8217;s most effective starters, and the Marlins cannot afford to give away early opportunities if they hope to steal a game in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n<p>After the three-game series at Great American Ball Park, Miami will head to Citizens Bank Park to face the <a data-ylk=\"\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/teams\/philadelphia\/\" rel=\"\">Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> (65-58), beginning Monday at 6:40 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n<p>The Phillies are one of the teams Miami is chasing in the Wild Card standings, making the series even more important.<\/p>\n<p>The Marlins are also expected to face two of Philadelphia&#8217;s best pitchers.<\/p>\n<p>Left-hander Christopher S\u00e1nchez (15-4, 2.54 ERA), who started for the National League in last month&#8217;s All-Star Game, is expected to open the series.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Right-hander <a data-ylk=\"\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/players\/9124\/\" rel=\"\">Zack Wheeler<\/a> (10-4, 2.89 ERA) is projected to follow Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler, 36, has enjoyed a successful career against Miami, both at home and on the road, and will have the home crowd behind him Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>That history makes Tuesday&#8217;s game another difficult test for a Marlins lineup that must find ways to create offense against elite pitching.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the opportunity is clear: Miami can gain ground on the team directly ahead of them while protecting its position over Cincinnati.<\/p>\n<p>With only 34 games remaining after this trip, every win matters more.<\/p>\n<p>A strong showing could put Miami in position to control its own fate in September. A poor trip, however, could erase much of the momentum built during the homestand and leave the Marlins chasing from behind once again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You could make an argument that the Miami Marlins&#8217; six-game road trip, which begins Friday at 6:10 p.m. ET against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park,\u00a0has\u00a0huge playoff implications. Coming off a 4-2 homestand in which the Marlins should&#8217;ve finished 5-1, the club sits at 62-60, two and a half games out of the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/0ccb3a784d00c8a77cd5117a52f8782169f1e0d59060e13aeab94ddf7869c4bb\/lightyear_networkapi\/resizefill_w1200%3Bquality_80%3Bformat_webp\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Froundtable_sports_miami_marlins_329%2Facf51f622cfc9facab8460dd2ebd17d1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}