The Dodgers and Marlins run it back Saturday for game two of their series, and right now the two clubs are moving in about as different directions as two teams can move.
+Sanoja and Heriberto Hernández flashing power recently
+Nothing to lose down the stretch, can play loose
−1-4 in last 5, lost both games to the Mets
−Bullpen thin with Bender shut down, Fairbanks still building back
−Xavier Edwards and Kyle Stowers both banged up
Neither club has announced a starter for the back end of this set yet, which is normal 3 days out. The Dodgers have been piecing together innings all summer with Roki Sasaki and Eric Lauer both nursing arm issues, and Miami's own rotation picture is unsettled with Max Meyer still building back from a neck and rib injury. Whoever gets the ball Saturday does it against a lineup that's been red-hot on one side and ice-cold on the other.
The Dodgers are also without center fielder Andy Pages, who's just started hitting off a tee for a hand issue, and catcher Dalton Rushing, out with elbow discomfort. Miami's dealing with its own attrition — second baseman Xavier Edwards is still working back from a thumb sprain, and outfielder Kyle Stowers has been in and out of the lineup with recurring hamstring trouble, most recently exiting a game against Kansas City in early September, per Fish On First and MLB Trade Rumors.
Los Angeles hosts Cincinnati on Tuesday, September 9 before this series opens Friday in Miami, so there's a full slate of baseball for both rosters to get through before Saturday's first pitch at 4:10 PM ET. Whatever happens in that opener will shape who's available and who's rested by the time this one starts.
As of this week, the Dodgers have won 5 straight and sit at 88-57, comfortably positioned atop the NL West with Teoscar Hernández swinging a hot bat, per Dodgers2080. That kind of stretch, this late in the year, is exactly the sort of thing a club wants heading into October — depth getting tested now instead of in a playoff series.
Miami is the mirror image. The Marlins are 72-74 and have dropped 2 straight, going 1-4 over their last 5 with both losses to the Mets sandwiched around a 10-3 win over the Cubs in which Javier Sanoja and Heriberto Hernández both went deep, per RotoWire's box score from that game. There's still real young talent flashing in that lineup — it's just not translating into results down the stretch.
Both bullpens have taken a beating this season. The Dodgers are still waiting on Edwin Diaz, who's just started a minor-league rehab assignment, while Jake Cousins, Will Klein, Ben Casparius and Brusdar Graterol are all out for the year or close to it. Miami's relief corps is similarly thin with Anthony Bender shut down and Pete Fairbanks working his way back — for a Marlins club playing out the string, this series is as much about auditioning arms for 2027 as it is about the standings.
