Indians vs. Marlins: Game 137 Thread

If the Miami Marlins hadn't lost Giancarlo Stanton, Justin Bour, Derek Dietrich, Wei-Yin Chen, and David Phelps to the disabled list, would it be reasonable to suspect that perhaps they would not be three games out of the second wild card spot, with two teams—Pittsburgh and New York—between them and the St. Louis Cardinals, but already in the first or second wild card position? Yes. Yes, it would. But this is the state the Fish find themselves in as they push for that postseason birth, very much now on the outside looking in. Only Dietrich has been reinstated and returns to the lineup tonight while it may be a while yet until the others are cleared.

Good thing it's Jose Day in Cleveland. Fernandez has only three wins in his last ten starts, but he hasn't allowed a run in 14 consecutive innings. The Major League-leader in strikeout rate, Fernandez struck out six in his last start against the New York Mets and nine prior to that against the Kansas City Royals. If the Marlins can rebound from a National League-worst in runs scored during the month of August, and Jose continues to excel on the mound, and they get a few guys back, they have a decent chance to climb back into wild card position.

It all starts tonight against Trevor Bauer, who, despite a tough July and early August, has regained his command. In his last start, against the Minnesota Twins, he allowed five hits but no runs and struck out four thru six innings as the Indians won, 1-0. And on August 19th, Bauer went eight innings while allowing two earned runs on five hits and struck out a season-high 13 as the Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-2.

PITCHING MATCHUP

Prediction: Jose strikes out eight as Marlins roll, 5-1.