Los Angeles Dodgers at Miami Marlins

Neither side has a starter locked in yet for Friday. The Dodgers host Cincinnati twice before flying to Miami, and the Marlins host the Mets twice before this one, so both rotations are still shaking out. What's not in question is which pitching staff has taken more hits lately — Los Angeles has been piling injured arms onto the 15- and 60-day IL all month, while Miami's biggest name still working back is Max Meyer, who's only just resumed throwing after a neck and rib issue.

Shohei Ohtani is part of that Dodgers picture even though he's not pitching. He missed 4 straight games with knee and biceps soreness before DHing again on Monday, and manager Dave Roberts is managing his workload carefully with October in mind rather than shutting him down. Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernandez have carried the offense in the meantime, which is a nice problem for a lineup that's still finding ways to win with a two-way superstar at less than 100 percent.

None of the three markets have a number posted yet for this one — Los Angeles and Miami are both still finishing up series against other opponents, so there's nothing to grade against until the board opens closer to Friday. That leaves the game itself to make the case.

As of Monday, the Dodgers have won 5 straight, and 3 of those wins came in a sweep of Washington that pushed L.A.'s record against the Nationals to a perfect mark on the season. That's the kind of form that can evaporate fast against a good Reds club this week, but it's also the shape of a team that's just a game up on Atlanta for the 2-seed and 1.5 back of Milwaukee for the division's best record — every game still means something in September.

Miami's shape is the opposite story. The Marlins were a legitimate surprise for stretches of this season, flirting with a wild-card spot as recently as a few weeks ago, but they've dropped 4 of their last 5 and are working from a losing record with the calendar turning. They took 1 of 3 from the Cubs — including a 10-3 win in the middle game that showed the offense can still erupt — before dropping their most recent game to the Mets.

The injury pictures cut in opposite directions. Los Angeles is dealing with a genuinely thin pitching staff — Roki Sasaki, Gavin Stone and Kris Bubic are all shelved, Eric Lauer just joined them with elbow inflammation, and the bullpen is missing Edwin Diaz, Ben Casparius and Brusdar Graterol. Miami's issue is more about the lineup: second baseman Xavier Edwards is still working back from a thumb injury, though he was fielding grounders earlier this week, which is a good sign for his timeline.

Add it up and this reads like a clash between a team playing out the string on a great season and one trying to remember what its good stretch looked like. Both clubs have two more games to sort out their rotations and bullpens before Friday's series opener at loanDepot Park, and by the time first pitch rolls around at 7:10 PM ET, this preview's form snapshot will already be old news — worth checking back on once the board opens and the picture sharpens.

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