Miami Marlins Need Strong Finish: Key Games in September

The Marlins had many individual accomplishments this season. Sandy Alcantara has pitched the most innings in Marlins history. Eury Perez is having a resurgence in the second half. Otto Lopez is reaching 30 doubles and 25 stolen bases. Heriberto Hernandez is becoming the unexpected home run leader. Javier Sanoja is surprising us with his hits and stolen bases.

How is it possible that we are seeing these goals but not enough wins on their record? As we are entering the last month of the baseball season, the Marlins must take advantage of many critical games on their schedule. 

The San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks are ahead of them in the wild-card hunt. The Marlins will have a back-to-back six-game West Coast road trip against those teams. They cannot lose those series against them whatsoever. It's either a sweep or take two out of three against both teams. 

In their last season series, the Marlins got swept by the Padres at home during the July 24-26 weekend. The Marlins got outscored 16-7 in the series. Their Sep 18-20 series presents an interesting opportunity for the Marlins to even the score. Redemption must be met. As good as the Padres are, the Marlins are just as good to secure a series win.

The Marlins had success against the Diamondbacks when they played each other in June. The Marlins swept them and had back-to-back shutout wins in the second and third games (8-0 and 2-0). The Marlins dominated them and outscored them 20-6. Bringing that same intensity and urgency will be important for them. 

The September schedule is not going to be easy. They will be going up against good teams. The Marlins will play the Chicago Cubs twice, one series against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the final series against the Atlanta Braves to end the season. Their best winnable games will be against the Kansas City Royals to start September and their series against the New York Mets.

However, even against the lousy teams, the Marlins can't take them lightly. September will show what the Marlins are made of. The team must win at least 17 of their 24 games in September to make the playoffs.