MIAMI — We are one sleep away from the opening day of the Major League Baseball season, and nearly everything is set for every team. And barring any last-second changes, the Miami Marlins know who will start their first three games.
The Marlins are heading into 2023 looking to improve upon a 93-loss season and a fourth-place finish in the NL East division behind the Braves, Mets, and Phillies. The Nationals were so bad the Marlins finished 14 games ahead of them in the standings.
They open the season against the Mets for four games, and right now, they know who is starting the first three games. And according to host Peter Pratt of the Locked On Marlins podcast, Marlins fans may finally have a reason to look forward to a new baseball season.
Opening Day should be an exciting matchup because it’s between the reigning Cy Young award winner in Sandy Alcantara, and a three-time Cy Young award winner in Max Scherzer. Alcantara was the best player for the Marlins by far. He collected an 8.0 bWAR in 2023, and the next closest player was former Marlin Pablo Lopez, who finished with a 3.0.
He also doubled his WAR output from 2021 to 2022. He finished with a 2.28 ERA, led the majors in innings (228.2) and batters faced (886). He made his second All-Star team and finished 10th in NL MVP voting.
Pratt was joined by Ely Sussman of Fish Stripes and Pitcher List, and they discussed the excitement around the Marlins' starting rotation. Pratt said, “This 1-2-3 punch in terms of upside levels… This is a dreamy 1-2-3, in my opinion.”
Sussman agreed, saying, “I’m extremely excited to see it all come together because we have been talking about this for several years about this rotation reaching an elite level, and frankly, it hasn’t fully actualized that potential yet in any full season.”
He added that Alcantara did what he could to boost the rotation singlehandedly in 2022, but injuries to the others plagued their performance.”
And who are those others? Jesus Luzardo and Edward Cabrera. Luzardo was 4-7 in 2022 but had a 3.32 ERA in 18 starts. He injured his forearm in May 2022 and missed significant time. He came back in August, and it was a mixed bag of performances, but he settled down in his last four starts and struck out a season-high 12 batters in his last start of the season.
Cabrera was also bitten by the injury bug in 2022 and only started 14 games for the Marlins. He hurt his elbow in June and missed two months, then hurt his ankle at the end of the season. He pitched to a 3.01 ERA in those 14 games and went 6-4.
Beyond staying healthy, Sussman said the key for Cabrera in 2023 is for him to throw his fastball with more conviction, throw it more often and be able to locate it.
After the top three, the Marlins will have to make the choice between Johnny Cueto and Trevor Rogers for the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation, but right now, things are looking up for the Marlins, and maybe this is the year the rotation puts it all together.
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