FINAL NAIL: Miami Marlins’ INSANE Comeback FALLS SHORT—Has The Playoff Window CLOSED?

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. The Marlins get swept by the Metz in one of the wildest games you'll ever see. And I'm finally ready to declare the playoffs out of reach. You are Lockdown Marlins, your daily podcast on the Miami Marlins. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Jamie Goldman and welcome into another edition of Lockdown Marlins. Lockdown, now the number one sports podcast network. Thank you for 10 years of the sports Lockdown Sports Network, your team every day. On today's show, look ahead to the off season and what the Marlins need to improve on to become a serious playoff contender next season.

1:02Because folks, I think we can pretty much kiss the playoffs goodbye for this year. Plus, now that this season's playoff dream seems to be over, I'll discuss what we learned about this Marlins team this season. And things to build on for next season. I'll start today with the New York Jets beating the Miami Dolphins 15 to 4. Wait, that's not right. That was the score of Metz Marlins last night. 15 to 14 was your score of Metz Marlins last night. A roller coaster type of game. The NFL season got started last night and it looks like the Metz and Marlins kind of, you know, took to that as they scored probably the highest scoring ball. Game of the Marlins season last night. And it didn't go the Marlins way. You dropped to now 72 and 75 on the season and your worst fear heading into this series came true last night. You get swept by the New York Metz.

2:04If you remember last year, the Marlins took two out of three against the Metz at the end of the season to knock the Metz out of the playoffs. It was definitely more dramatic on the Metz side of things last season. But roles were reversed this year as the Marlins absolutely needed this series to stay in the mix, stay in the hunt for the playoffs and they didn't deliver. Bottom line, the Metz came into town and beat up the Marlins three games in a row. And you blow an early lead in game one that kind of set the tone for the whole series. You had that Grand Poly home run, put you up four to three in that ball game and then the Metz come with an avalanche of five straight runs. You lose that one nine to four. And then in game two, you just are never able to come back. You get down big early in the ball game. You climb back into it. You make it respectable seven to five finish, but you get down seven, nothing in a ball game.

3:05It is very difficult to come back from, which brings me to last night's ball game. Marlins get behind early eight to nothing. Johnson, Johnson, Junk didn't have his stuff. He gets shell blast night, giving up eight earned runs early in that ball game and to add a little salt to the wound to add a little bit of insult to injury here. Listen, this is going to be a pretty bleak first couple of minutes of the shots just where the Marlins are at. But yeah, to add insult to injury last night, Christopher Morrell. You guys remember him? Well, he's with the Metz now and he hit his first home run of the season last night while the Metz were in the process of building that eight to nothing lead. Christopher Morrell, Homer's for the first time against the Marlins who if you remember, the Marlins brought in Morrell this off season. He was one of their, you know, headline type of additions this off season who was brought in as a guy that was supposed to give a little bit of a power spark to the lineup as well as someone who could potentially play first base.

4:10And that thing blew up in the Marlins face. He ends up getting DFA but there actually ends up getting sent down. I think he played in the minors for a bit with the Marlins and bounces around a little bit finds his way with the Metz comes back to town. He might add some build up for last night's ball game as he hit the home run early and he wasn't done after that. He goes three for four in last night's ball game also adds three RBIs. He scored three runs and yesterday's game as well. So Christopher Morrell, I don't want to say gets the last laugh. He's had, you know, his three for four performance brings him up to one ninety three batting average on the season. So, you know, is he really, is he really the winner in this situation, but got the best of the Marlins last night for sure. But back to where I was here, Marlins fall behind eight nothing and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Marlins storm back after that and tie the game at eight to eight. Three hits a walk a hit by pitch gives you three runs in the fourth to make it eight to three.

5:13And then Owen Casey starts a rally in the fifth or in the sixth. Excuse me. A five run rally in the sixth starts with an Owen Casey home run. Good to see him hit a home run. It's been a little while since we've seen the power show up for Casey. So good stuff there. And then the Marlins end up scoring four more in that inning to tie the game at eight to eight in the sixth. So what an exciting game you tie the ball game at eight to eight in the six. You still three innings ready to go here. And then the meds rattle off six straight runs to make it 14 to eight. The Marlins and meds traded a run back and forth after that. It's 15 to nine at this point. And the Marlins still continued to fight in last night's ballgame even after falling behind. Well, you fell behind eight nothing early. You come back, you climb that mountain and tie the game at eight to eight. And then you know, you fall behind again. This time it's 15 to nine. And you're able to even score five more runs after that.

6:17And get the game to 15 to 14 in the bottom of the ninth. Yeah, the runners on first and second with only one out. So you had the winning run on first base. You had the time run and scoring position with only one out last night. And the Marlins aren't able to complete the comeback. Grand Poly pops one up to end the ballgame yesterday. A disappointing loss for the Marlins. And honestly, I think that's the male in the coffin. You know, it sucks for me to say that. I've been following this thing all season long as have most of you guys. And you know, boring some kind of Miami miracle. It's over. It's over. And you know, it's not it's not typically it's not particularly surprising here. I think the writing has been on the wall for this Marlins team for a while here. It's honestly, it's been a disaster. It's second half of the season.

7:18At the All Star break tomorrow and or shortly before the All Star break. If you remember, they were super hot. Had that great June. We'll kind of rolled it into July a little bit. The Marlins were 52 and 43 at one point. And then they lost 12 games in a row, three heading into the All Star break and the nine straight out of the All Star break. And they completely had the wheels fall off. And the Marlins haven't been the same sense. They did have that stretch right after losing 12 in a row where they swept the Phillies. They won seven of eight. It looked like they maybe were coming back to form a little bit. But they've really crumbled down the stretch here. And this week to the match is I think the final male in the coffin. They haven't been able to win the games they needed to win. You had a crucial series against Philadelphia. You got swept shortly after that. You got swept by Atlanta right there is too big series that you need to be able to compete with the Phillies and the Braves of the world.

8:19You know, teams of that echelon. If you want to be a playoff contender consistently. And it was right there in front of them. And the Marlins couldn't get it done. You get swept by the Phillies. You get swept by the Braves. Then you head to Washington. And you lose three out of four there. That was a major gut puncher. But after how well you've played against Washington this season. So you lose that one. Three out of four there. And then you leave one on the table in Kansas City. You're only able to get two there. You lose two out of three against Chicago. And then with absolutely no momentum going your way at all. You get swept by the New York Met at home. Where you have played so well this season. The Marlins get swept at home against the lowly New York Met. Gotta be. I mean that 12 game losing streak was probably rock bottom for this team. But this is definitely a low point as well for the fish getting swept at home by the Met also the fact that it was Christopher Morrell that had such a good game yesterday added some insult to injury for sure.

9:29Just a bad scene a bad scene in Miami after so much hope in the month of June kind of carried into July a little bit. They were in the playoff race deep into August early September. They were three games out of it. You even got as close as two and a half games out of it at one point. And the wheels have just fallen off. You got a lot of help. And it just hasn't gone your way. It doesn't matter how much other teams help you. The podra is lose if the diamondbacks lose. It doesn't matter if you are not able to take care of your business and win the games that you have in front of you. And that has been the case for the Marlins getting swept by the Met's. And the playoffs just fall out of grasp. But that being said, it hasn't been all bad this season coming up next. I'm going to tell you what we've learned about this team this season. And what they need to do this off season to become a playoff contender next season. That's all coming up right after this.

10:32I want to give a big thank you to our friends at Amazon for this limited break this back to school season spend less on your kids with Amazon. And we all know how crazy the back to school shopping experience can be. It starts with a few items on the list. And then suddenly you're shopping for supplies, clothes, lunch gear, tech, and about 10 other things you didn't see coming. It adds up fast. That's why finding low prices on the things you need makes such a big difference this time of year. But when you buy clothes for back to school, then your kid has a growth spurt two weeks later. And you're right back to where you started. Sometimes it genuinely feels like they're growing faster than your budget can keep up. So remember, with Amazon's low back to school prices, just spend less on your kids. Because every dollar you don't spend on them is a dollar you haven't spent on them. Shop back to school at Amazon and spend less on your kids.

11:33So now that the Marlins play off chances look to be actually a fan graphs a popular baseball website listed the Marlins playoff of chances at 0.0. I don't fully want to put it at 0.0. I'll give the Marlins 1% in Jamie Goldman's little analytics library here. I'll give them a 1% because yeah, there's six games out. But if they win those six games against the Dodge or against the Diamondbacks and Padres. And the chances are that are at least in the mix. So listen, I'll go as far to say it's over. But I will leave 1% sliver of hope hanging in the balance for these Marlins. But that's not the point of this segment. The point of this segment is, what have we learned this season about the Marlins? What have they shown us that we can kind of lash on to and expect going into next season? And one thing I feel comfortable saying is the Marlins have a solid big three.

12:37When I say big three, I mean the pitching rotation. They have three grade A grade B starters that I can trust on any given day that can go up against anyone in the league that I trust to go out there and give me at the very least equality start. Those three guys being Sandi Al Contra, Yuri Perez and Max Meyer. So I'll go down the list here. We'll start with Sandy. Sandy's been a workhorse for this team this season. 31 starts. He's been consistent 200 innings up there with the most in baseball this season. And he's been solid 13 and 10 of 378 ERA over 200 innings. Sign me up. Sign me up for Sandy Al Contra. If he can give you something along those lines, you're in and you're out. He is exactly what this team needs as a leader. He's as a veteran. He's a former Sai Young winner. He's been an all star in his career. And now he's a reliable every day, not every day, but every five days starter.

13:41Who was just a reliable reliable veteran leading his team? He's the captain of this team, El Caballo, the big horse. He's got 143 strikeouts this year in 200 innings, only 55 walks. He's been everything you can ask as a leader of your ball club has Sandy Al Contra. So I believe in Sandy. That brings me to Yuri Perez, who has been kind of like Sandy's little brother, if you'll allow me to go that far. Yuri has been mister inconsistent pretty much his whole career. But when he's on, he's on. It reminds me that scene from Miracle, my favorite movie. They ask, Coach Herb Brooks about the gold tender Jimmy Craig. And he says the guy asking him says, you know, Jimmy's game hasn't been on since since or Jimmy's game has been off since his mom died and Herb goes, you ever seen him when his game is on. And that's exactly how I feel about Yuri Perez. Yeah, he hasn't been good since the middle of August. His game has been off since the middle of August.

14:46Have you ever seen him when his game is on because he is lights out when he is on. He is one of the most unhittable pitchers in baseball. So he's got to work on that consistency. But overall, you 7 and 11 this season with a 3940 R.A. So even with those last couple of blowup starts still keeping that ERA below four. He has the best strikeout rate of the starting pitchers on the Marlins. 150 strikeouts and less than 140 innings this season. A 9.7 K per nine easily the best strikeout rate of the three that I'm talking about here. Sandy Yuri and Max. But he's also the most inconsistent of the group, which we've kind of just discussed. Lots of peak is peaks and values with the area Perez. He's coming off three consecutive starts where he's been hammered. But before that lights out in July. He had the perfect seven innings against the athletics. That was in July. And overall in July five starts all quality starts a 1 9.7 ERA and his whip below 0.9.

15:50So he really kept it going in July. And then he carried that on into August. He had a stretch in August where over three starts. He only allowed one earned run in 18 innings pitch. So there's no denying Yuri has the stuff. We just need to see it a little bit more consistently. But going into a season when you have Sandi our contrary and Max Meyer next to you. I very much trust and believe in Yuri Perez heading into next year, which brings me to Max. Easily the best results of the three pitchers this season believe it or not. He's 9 in 1, a 268 ERA. He's had a breakout season. His first year being an all star was this year. Really the only thing with Max. We got the breakout. We've seen that he can do it. The only thing we need for him is can Max stay healthy. You know, because that's been a problem throughout his career. A highly touted prospect. He was a top five pick in the 2020 MLB draft.

16:53And we've seen flashes of this. This was definitely the season where he's had the best breakout. And we've seen the most flashes. That 9 in 1 record that 268 ERA. He was in a little bit of conversations for Sai Young before the injury. And before he went down. So we just need Max to stay healthy. And honestly with Max. I'm going to bring this up. I think the morelons were a little bit too cautious with Max Meyer this season. And I don't know what was going on behind the seasons. Maybe they saw something lingering with him and they chose to be more cautious with him. But I particularly want to look at the time right around the all star break. Max had a scheduled start right before the all star break. And the morelons decided to skip that start. And up to this point, Max was in a rhythm. He was starting every five days and he was giving us all star level pitching, which is why he earned an all star bid. And he had a start on that last game before the all star break. And the morelons chose to let him skip that start in just kind of a maintenance type of situation.

18:01And then he didn't pitch in the all star game either. Marlon's didn't want to risk him getting hurt in the all star game coming out of the all star game. He missed his first start. Then he had his first start against the brewers. And he pitched three innings in that game and he left with an injury. After being in such a rhythm all season long, starting every five days or six days, if there was an off date, never missing a start. All of a sudden, the morelons get extra cautious with him, he gets I don't know the exact amount of days, but somewhere between 10 to 15 to 20 days off. I think it was more like 10 to 15, but you get a longer way as you usually do. You know, he was used to pitching every five to six days in a rhythm, being a starting picture in this rotation. And then the morelons kind of just said, hold on, you know, we're going to let you breathe a little bit. And I think that took him out of a rhythm. I really do. I'm no doctor. I shouldn't get on here and try to play doctor right now, but Max Meyer, you know, he, he was pitching so well and he was pitching consistently every five days.

19:10Suddenly, his body gets taken out of that rhythm. He does, he misses a start. And then he tries to go out there and ramp it back up like he had it going and his stuff wasn't there. And then he got hurt. I think the morelons were a little bit too cautious with Max. I really do. But that being said, he had a really good year this year. And he's been, he's been the morelons best starting pitcher this season. So long story short here, Max Meyer, Yuri Perez, Sandy, or Contra, I feel good about that going into next season. Also, morelons have found two exciting rookies this year. Obviously the head, the headliner is Joe Mac, 238 batting average, 13 home runs, 46 RBI. He's a steady, reliable, everyday catcher defensively as well. That's the big part of this. He's tied for first in the majors with 23 runners, caught stealing this season. A far cry from Augustine Ramirez and Liam Hicks, who were, were, were everybody's running on those guys. So we have a catcher that we can roll eye on behind the plate.

20:15He's got a little bit of pop. He's got a little bit of contact. Couldn't be happier with the way that Joe Mac has come on the scene and really just grabbed that starting catcher roll this season. I really think the morelons found their catcher of the future with Joe Mac. And we don't have to worry about that position anymore. Another rookie that's kind of come on this season has been Owen Casey and he's had his inconsistencies, but as a power hitter, as a rookie power hitter, I think inconsistencies is expected. A 220 batting average, you'd like to see that be a little bit better, but 14 home runs on the year. He added one last night as well. We've seen the power show up. 14 home runs in your rookie year. That's pretty solid. You still developing. You still got a lot to work on. But the raw talent and the potential is there. He needs to limit his strikeouts. It's a lot of swing and mess this season. But I think he's going to fine tune his game. He's going to continue working with the moral and sitting coaches. And I look for Owen Casey to take a step forward next season as well.

21:24Run a little short on time, but I want to wrap this segment by saying, exonato shouldn't be going anywhere. Those are your table setters, those are your middle infield. They've been consistently solid all season long. Obviously Lopez really had the breakout season. The best war on the Marlins 5.7. Best on the Marlins by a lot actually. All star year 303 average up there with the most hits in baseball. 31 doubles, nine triples, 10 home runs. So he's shown a little bit of pop as well. 30 stolen bases. So he's got some speed auto Lopez. If the Marlins can hold on to him, they better hold on to him. Same thing is true for Xavier Edwards. Doesn't have the average that Lopez has, but still bat in 282 with the 361 on base. The 361 on base is actually higher than Lopez is on base percentage because Edwards has a lot of patience at the plate. 65 walks this season. That's the second most on the Marlins. Marcy has 72. But Lopez only drew 33 walks this year for which results in a 342 on base percentage. So Edwards actually gets on base more than Lopez does.

22:38He also had 20 stolen bases already this season. Six home runs on the years. Not a ton of pop. But what he needs to, we can hit with a little bit of power. So X and auto have been a pleasant surprise in the middle infield this season showing their speed, showing their contact and a little bit of pop as well. So we got some things to build on here in Miami. You got the big three pitching. You got a couple exciting rookies coming back. You got a solid middle infield with X and an auto in the middle there. Being kind of your table setters. So you know, it's not all bad. This team, listen, I've been saying it all year long. There are 500 team. They're a mediocre team. They're not bottom of the barrel, but they're not playoff contenders either yet. And I say yet because I do believe they're building something here and the foundation is laid. And now it's time for them to add to this foundation and really build this thing up, which I believe they're going to do. So coming up, I'm going to talk about the off season and what kind of moves you could look for the marlins to make so they can build this thing up so they can become a perennial playoff contender.

23:52Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect the bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. One app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales and somehow none of them talk to each other. That's where ODO comes in. ODO is an all in one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing. Everything works in one place. ODO is one platform to manage, grow and scale your business. The best organizations know that success isn't just about talent. It's about having everyone working towards the same goal. And that's true in sports just like it is in business. Take the marlins month of June, for example. The marlins always seem to be playing their best when everyone's pulling in the same direction. On June, the marlins want to franchise record 20 games that are getting contributions from everyone, a coordinated effort and everyone pulling in the same direction led the marlins to their best month in franchise history. Great organizations win because operations matter and that's why you should get ODO. Try for free today at od.com slash lock down. That's od.com slash lock down.

25:05The best out of all is brought to you by Fandall baseball fans. If you think you know who's hitting a home or today. Fandall is giving you a free chance to call your shot with daily dingers. It's easy to play just make your free pick for who you think will hit a home run in their game. And if you're right, you'll receive a profit boost to use on your next bet for an extra chance at winning. And if you're not the best of all, you can make a free pick every day throughout the MLB season. Daily dingers is another fun way to stay engaged with every day is games, whether you're following your favorite player, keeping an eye on matchups across the league. Every game has someone capable of going deep. Now you get the chance to make your prediction before first pitch. Sometimes the hitters who's on a hot streak, a favorable pitching matchup. And a game like yesterday where it feels like anyone could hit a home run 15 to 14, whether you see that. So are you ready to play your game today? Join all the action at fandall.com. That's fandall.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a home. Play ball and swing for the fences on fandall and official partner of major league baseball.

26:15I've got a couple minutes left here and I'm going to talk off season for the first time this year. We're officially doing an off season show. I've been holding on to that playoff dream for a while now. But folks, let's be real six and a half games out your three games under 500. I'm completely imploded in the second half of this season. Playoffs, they're not coming to Miami this season. And I think a lot of that had to do with the Marlins inability to hit left handed pitching this season. I did some digging and I and I found some numbers for exactly where the Marlins rank against lefties this season. And one stat that really jumped out at me. Miami has gone 14 and 20 against left handed pitching. They've gone 59 and 45 against right handed pitching. That's a big difference. Your 14 games over 500 when you face righties your six games under 500 when you face lefties.

27:17Marlins also have a six 88 OPS against lefties this season a 233 batting average both of those in the bottom half of the league their OPS 21st in major league baseball. You can't be in the bottom third of the league against left handed pitchers. If you want to be a playoff team, you've got to be at least middle of the road. This is the Marlins were good against right handed pitching this year whenever they face lefties they their offense just went dormant. And we saw that multiple times this year where we had maybe today is not the best day to be doing this because the Marlins put up 14 runs yesterday. But there's been a lot of situations this year where Sandy gives you a great start or Janssen junk gives you a great start or Meyer or whoever the case may be and you're down one to nothing heading into the late the late stages of the ball game because you couldn't hit the left handed pitcher that was starting on the other side of things. So I think this Marlins team is designed very well to hit righties which we've seen this season. Stowers, Kona and Casey, Marcy, Mac when they had Liam Hicks in lineup he was against a really good hitter against righties.

28:30And that's why the Marlins had so much success against right handed pitching this season. But on the other side of things you were relying on guys like Leo Jimenez every day you were facing a left handed pitcher he was in the lineup. Remember how crazy that drove you. And then guys like Connor Norby who just weren't getting it done Augustine Ramirez is another guy that kind of fits into that category the only players that you really had that were hitting well against lefties this year were Arab or Hernandez who didn't come on until a couple months into the season. Estee Erie Ruiz also a platoon guy and then auto Lopez and Javier Sonoma and Sonoma has bounced around every different position on this team as well. So I really think it's going to be important for the Marlins to go out this off season and find more reliable right handed batters that can be trusted to hit lefties. I think that's the number one the more thing that the Marlins need to focus on this season.

29:33I also you know they're also going to need a couple of arms in the bullpen. I don't envision peep fairbanks coming back. He was a one year thing one year 13 million dollars. I think that's the most important thing that I've ever seen in the season. I think that's the most important thing that the Marlins probably wish they could have went in a different direction with that money at this point. But we're not here to cry about spilt milk. I also think they have some exciting arms in that bullpen already that I'm excited to see them take the next step next season guys like Ralston guys like Echness. I think that's the only way for a while for the Marlins there. Also I'll be curious to see what happens with Roni and Riekes. Remember last season Roni was locked down at the end of that bullpen as your closer last year and then Roni gets hurt he misses this entire season. So I'll be interested to see if he can you know kind of get back to form that we saw in 2025. So biggest things for this Marlins team. Add some right handed hitting add some power bats as well power has been an issue for this Marlins team good contact team you need that guy in the middle of the lineup that's going to match 30 home runs.

30:47Marlins don't have that guy right now. So I think that's important. I think adding some to the bullpen is important. And then finally they got to show up the back end of that rotation. I talked about the big three with Yuri Max and Sandy but we can't have another Chris Paddock situation this year. That was a disaster a fiasco that blew up in the Marlins face. You've got to go out there and get a reliable. I don't have a problem with it being a veteran type guy like a Chris paddock but you need a guy you can trust there. Paddock was coming off a very rough season. He was viewed as a project and it didn't work out. I'd like to see the Marlins go up and get a guy in a little bit of a higher tier than a Chris paddock if they're serious about this thing that's what they need to do.

31:52I'm also going to be curious to see where guys like Robbie Snellingfit into this thing and a lot of minor league talent not just pitching but camp alderman Jonathan long are these guys going to make their major league debuts next season as well. There's a lot of question marks for this Marlins team. I don't view this season as a failure whatsoever but what they did fail to do they did fail to make the playoffs barring an absolute miracle the rest of the way here. So Marlins get the Dodgers coming into town this weekend tomorrow. I'll get you set for that Dodgers series everything you need to know about the LA Dodgers coming into town to face the fish this weekend. So that's going to do it for me today. Thank you everyone to tuning into Lockdown Marlins. I'll be back with you tomorrow. Thanks for making Lockdown your first listen every day for your second listen go check out the locked on MLB game night every game every night until a world series champion is crowned and get national.

32:55Get local analysis on a national scale find MLB game night unlocked on M.O.B YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts that's going to do it for me today have a good day everybody and as always go Marlins. Thank you for making Lockdown your first listen every day for your second listen find the all night locked on MLB game night every game every night until a world series champion is crowned get local analysis on a national scale find MLB game night on locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.