The Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets are locked in amid their respective postseason pushes.
The National League East’s remaining two teams, meanwhile, are simply playing out the stretch in the regular season’s final month.
All but eliminated from playoff contention, the Washington Nationals and the Miami Marlins begin a two-game series on Tuesday in Florida.
The last-place Marlins (51-86) will start right-hander Max Meyer (3-4, 5.44 ERA), a 25-year-old who has yet to fulfill his potential since being selected third overall in the 2020 MLB Draft.
Tommy John surgery last year hindered Meyer’s development, but the second-year pro has struggled with limiting home runs in his second major league season.
Meyer has allowed 12 home runs across 10 starts this year, including five homers in his last three starts, all Miami losses.
Overall, the Marlins are 4-6 this season when Meyer starts.
Equipped mostly with just a fastball and a slider, there has been media speculation that Meyer could be a reliever next year. That’s when Miami is expected to have several star pitchers return from the injured list, including Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez and Jesus Luzardo.
Meyer, who has never faced Washington, went 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA in April but was 1-4 with a 7.12 ERA in August.
The fourth-place Nationals (61-76) will start left-hander Patrick Corbin (4-12, 5.50 ERA).
Corbin, who is in the last month of a six-year, $140-million contract, is tied for the NL’s most losses after holding at least a share of the league lead in the category in each of the last three seasons.
The two-time All-Star is 29-62 since the start of the 2021 season.
He carries a 5-7 with a 4.22 ERA in 19 career starts against the Marlins, including a 2-4 mark with a 6.86 ERA in eight outings in Miami.
Washington is 9-18 this season when starting Corbin but has won his past two outings. Corbin has allowed just one run on six hits while striking out 14 in 12 innings during that span.
Meyer and Corbin should not necessarily expect much in the way of support from their teammates. Both clubs entered Monday tied for 27th of 30 teams with a .981 fielding percentage
Nationals manager Dave Martinez ripped his team on Sunday after they committed three errors in a 14-1 loss to the visiting Chicago Cubs.
“We’ve got to catch the baseball,” Martinez said. “It was awful today.”
Neither team’s offense has atoned for its below-average defense. Washington ranks 22nd in the majors with 4.20 runs per game, while the Marlins’ 3.80 per game are the second-fewest in baseball entering Monday.
Both squads’ struggles suggest the two-game set could be evenly matched, though Miami has won its last two games.
Miami beat the Giants 7-5 on Sunday to take two out of three on the road against a San Francisco team fighting for an NL wild-card spot.
“Everything had to go right, honestly, to beat a team like that in that environment,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “I’m really happy with what our group did.”
–Field Level Media