This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

It might not be October baseball but try telling that to the contending Marlins.

More than 40,000 fans attended each of the first two games against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, serving as a test run -- if you will -- should Miami make the postseason. When the Marlins broke a 17-year playoff drought in 2020, they didn't play in front of fans in the National League Wild Card Series and NL Division Series due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That wouldn't be the case this time around, which means dealing with hostile environments.

"Philly's used to that," manager Skip Schumaker said following Friday night's 3-2 victory. "Every time I come here, it's 40,000. Just really great fans here. I think that it's really good for our guys to come in and to play in this environment. This is what you're going to see when you get into a playoff-type environment, and so for some of the young guys to come through, like a [Jesús Sánchez] in a big spot against a pitcher throwing 97 mph and he's been a closer before -- for him to do that in a big spot, is really good for his growth."

Sánchez, who knocked a pinch-hit, game-tying two-run homer in the series opener, is no stranger to deflating a road crowd. He robbed Eugenio Suárez of a potential game-tying grand slam in a 4-1 win over Seattle on June 14.

"I love it," Sánchez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. "Literally something that I enjoy. It could be away, it could be at home. When I hear all that noise from the crowd, it really relaxes me and gets me very excited."

That might be the case for Sánchez, a batter who is in his fourth big league season, but it's a whole other ballgame for pitchers like Andrew Nardi and rookie Eury Pérez.

Nardi, who hasn't shied away from nerve-wracking moments in his first full season, faced another tough situation as the fireman out of the bullpen on Friday. He was tasked with preserving a one-run lead with two inherited runners on base with two outs in the seventh. After a walk to two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper on four pitches well out of the zone, Nardi regrouped to get an inning-ending forceout from Nick Castellanos. The lefty took the mound again for a perfect eighth.

"Definitely was feeling a little amped up, as you can tell, four balls straight," Nardi said. "But just after that, settled down, got back into it. [I] probably feel better with the bases loaded than without runners on. I don't know. But I'm just glad I just calmed down and got out of it."

The same goes for Pérez, who at 20 years and 148 days old is the youngest player in the Majors. Pitching in last season's Southern League Championship for Double-A Pensacola isn't quite the MLB playoff chase. Despite not having his best stuff or command, Pérez gave Miami five innings of two-run ball.

"Forty thousand fans standing up, every time they were doing that, you can feel the emotion and noise," Pérez said via Dorante. "So I was getting a little nervous, but at the end, it was me. I was myself with all the energy I've got and working hard outside competing with my teammates. At some point, [pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr.] went out there and kind of talked to me about getting that last out, that batter. I told him I got him, and I was able to command my breaking ball to get the out."