Marlins keep swimming in WC race, sweep Nats

WASHINGTON -- However the chaotic National League Wild Card picture shakes out, the upstart Marlins are either going to sink or swim this September. The long weekend they just spent in the nation’s capital proved, at the very least, that they won’t go down without a fight.

The Marlins capitalized on a prime opportunity when they needed it the most this weekend, procuring their first four-game sweep of the Nationals in franchise history by virtue of their 6-4 victory Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park. Sandy Alcantara gutted through eight innings and Luis Arraez scored the go-ahead run on a ninth-inning throwing error as Miami continued clawing its way back into the NL Wild Card race.

• Games remaining: vs. LAD (3), at PHI (3), at MIL (4), vs. ATL (3), vs. NYM (3), vs. MIL (3), at NYM (3), at PIT (3)

• Standings update: The Marlins (70-67) moved into a four-way tie with the D-backs (70-67), Giants (70-67) and Reds (71-68) for the third NL Wild Card spot. Miami would hold the first tiebreaker, based on head-to-head matchups, over Arizona (4-2), but not necessarily against San Francisco (3-3) or Cincinnati (3-3). The Marlins (19-21, .475) are in line to hold the second tiebreaker (intradivisional record) over the Reds but not Giants.

The Marlins made up three games in the standings this weekend by winning in a myriad of ways, from offensive eruptions to strong pitching to late-game rallies. Here are three things working in Miami’s favor as they are suddenly sizzling to start September.

Arraez rising
Arraez’s quest to hit .400 faded in August, when he dropped from a .381 average to .349 by the end of what was also the Marlins’ worst month of the season. It’s no coincidence that the offense seems to be clicking now, with Arraez scorching hot again. He was a near-impossible out against the Nats out of the leadoff spot, going 10-for-18 (.556) with six runs scored in the four games.

“We are playing really good baseball right now, and we just need it to continue,” Arraez said. “We came here and said, ‘We just need to stay together.’”

Arraez set the tone Sunday with his first leadoff homer of the year, then singled to spark Miami’s game-winning rally in the ninth. He came around to score when CJ Abrams threw away Jazz Chisholm’s force out on a double-play ball that would’ve ended the inning.

When the dust settled, Arraez’s average was back at .356, fifteen points higher than the next closest hitter in the Majors (the Rangers' Corey Seager, .341). Arraez still has a sizeable lead for the NL batting title over the Dodgers' Freddie Freeman (.335) and the Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. (.335) as Arraez looks to become the first player in history to win consecutive batting titles, one in each league.

September Sandy
Alcantara’s final line was muddled by two unearned runs, both the product of his own fielding errors. But it is misleading. The Alcantara of Sunday was very much vintage Alcantara, using his power sinker to induce three double plays and holding Washington to only two earned runs over eight innings. His fastball was still hitting triple digits in the eighth.

“Incredible,” Miami manager Skip Schumaker said. “The way we pitched today and over all four of those games is why we swept the series.”

It was a welcome sight for a Marlins team that has lost eight of Alcantara’s 12 starts since the beginning of July, and 17 of his 28 starts this season following Alcantara’s NL Cy Young-winning 2022 campaign. But he’s separated himself from his first-half struggles more and more as the season’s worn on, and he’s been extremely good of late, with a 3.07 ERA in his past 11 starts.

All they need to do is win
The Marlins technically don’t control their own destiny -- not yet, anyway. They do have plenty of power to make sure that, by the end of the season, their fate rests in their hands and theirs alone.

The season’s final month will feature 12 head-to-head matchups between some combination of the four teams in front of them, 10 of which involve the Cubs (including seven between Chicago and Arizona).

That means the Marlins probably won’t need to rely as much on chance in order to leapfrog the clubs in front of them. All they need to do is win, and eventually another team is bound to handle the rest. For a Miami team that has zero head-to-head matchups remaining against the three teams it needs to surpass, having those clubs beat each other up is the next best thing.

If the Marlins take care of business -- and their remaining schedule won't make that easy in the slightest -- the rest should, in theory, take care of itself. But they do need to keep winning. That is the key.