The Miami Marlins open a three-game home series against the New York Mets on Monday afternoon at loanDepot park, with Eury Pérez lined up to face Jonah Tong in the first game. It is a series the Marlins need to start fast after dropping two of three to the Chicago Cubs over the weekend.
Monday’s game starts at 1:10 p.m., and the Marlins enter four games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third and final wild-card spot in the National League. That leaves little room for anything but a run of wins if they want to keep the chase alive through September.
Tong, 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA, is back in the spotlight after making his season debut back in May in Miami, when he threw three scoreless, hitless innings. His last outing, though, was June 2 against the Seattle Mariners, when he allowed four runs in 3.1 innings. For the Mets, that is the kind of swing that has defined a disappointing season: they have still won four of their last six games, including two of three against the Tampa Bay Rays on the road and two of three at home against the San Francisco Giants.
Pérez brings a 7-10 record and a 3.72 ERA into the opener, a line that reflects both the promise and the frustration around the Marlins’ rotation. Sandy Alcantara is set to follow Tuesday against Sean Manaea, with Janson Junk scheduled to start Wednesday for Miami, so the series is lined up around a trio of innings-eating decisions that could decide how hard the Marlins can press the race.
The math is simple for Miami. At four games back, the Marlins do not need just one good night against New York; they need to start shrinking the gap before the schedule runs thin. If they cannot take advantage of this home series, the wild-card chase becomes less a push and more a countdown.
