Yahoo Finance The Marlins have been ‘throttled’ on the road this year. A look into what has gone wrong
The Miami Marlins’ road woes continue.
After being swept by the St. Louis Cardinals to start the week, the Marlins are 13-25 in road games this season and have lost 11 of their last 12 road games as they prepare for a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field starting Friday.
This comes a year after the Marlins posted a 20-14 record in games away from their home ballpark during MLB’s shortened 2020 season en route to their first winning record since 2009 and their first playoff berth since 2003.
It also comes when the team is finally starting to play well at home. The Marlins are 16-14 at loanDepot park so far this year and have had winning records in each of their last three homestands.
“Obviously you’re looking for consistency day in and day out,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said after Wednesday’s 1-0 walk-off loss to the Cardinals. “We did have a little stretch there [at home] and then we came back on the road and we’ve kind of gotten throttled and struggled to get anything on the board.”
So what has gone wrong?
Statistically speaking, the Marlins have been producing less on the road than they have at home.
The proof:
▪ Miami’s team ERA is more than a full point higher on the road — 2.81 at loanDepot park compared to 4.08 at away venues.
▪ They are being outscored by 26 runs on the road, 159-133, compared to a collective 28-run advantage in home games (127-99). When broken down to a per-game number, Miami is averaging 3.5 runs per game on the road and 4.23 runs per game at home. Miami has been held to two runs or fewer in 14 road games.
▪ Luck also hasn’t been on their side on the road. The Marlins have a .326 batting average on balls in play — which removes strikeouts and home runs from the batting average equation — at loanDepot park, the second-highest mark in the league for teams when they play at home. On the road? The Marlins’ BABIP is just .278, 17th in the league.
“In general we haven’t put runs up, but also everything hasn’t been together,” Mattingly said. “We’ve pitched pretty good from the starting rotation side of it and we’ve blown a few saves in there. It’s been a joint effort. ... We just haven’t played well enough on the road to win.”
They’re also not holding their own in close games.
Of Miami’s 38 road games this season, 27 have been decided by three runs or fewer. The Marlins are 8-19 in those instances.
Opponents have recorded walk-off wins against the Marlins seven times already this season, with Miami’s losses on Tuesday and Wednesday in St. Louis the latest instances.
Overall, the Marlins had a lead or were tied in the seventh inning or later of nine road losses so far this year — a third of their defeats.
(This doesn’t include their 5-2 loss to the Red Sox on May 28 that was called after 5 1/2 innings due to rain. The game was tied 2-2 before the Red Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth.)
Miami has also recorded 11 blown save opportunities, defined as when a relief pitcher enters a game in a potential save situation (a lead of three runs or fewer in the seventh inning or later) and allows a game-tying run to score, on the road this year. That’s the second-most in MLB behind only the San Francisco Giants (12). Teams can have multiple blown save opportunities in the same game.
The Marlins only had five blown saves on the road last year in 20 opportunities — a 75 percent conversion rate. This year? It’s 35.3 percent (6 for 17).
“I think that’s one thing you look at,” Mattingly said. “Back then, we didn’t blow saves last year. So is those are all wins — and you’re not going to be able to go back — but those are the games that if you hold, probably the momentum would have kind of kept going in the right way and not the wrong way.”
Marlins break ground on Dominican Republic baseball academy
The Marlins on Wednesday broke ground on a new baseball academy in the Dominican Republic.
The facility, located on a 35-plus acre plot of land, will feature three MLB-size playing fields as well as an agility field, four covered batting cage tunnels and a covered set of six pitching mounds. It will also house a two-story athletic and administration building, complete with a dining hall, chapel, and 4,800-plus square foot weight room.
The complex also includes four classrooms and a computer lab. Marlins prospects playing for their rookie-level Dominican League team will be housed in a separate residential complex that includes a communal courtyard and two players lounges. The entire combined square footage of the two buildings will more than double the size of the current Marlins complex.
Among those in attendance for the groundbreaking: CEO Derek Jeter, general manager Kim Ng, Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, Dominican Republic minister of sports Francisco Jose Camacho Rivas, mayor of Boca Chica Fermin Brito, MLB director of Dominican Republic operations Yerik Perez, Dominican Republic commissioner of professional baseball Junior Noboa, six prospects who will be playing for the Marlins’ Dominican Summer League affiliate, Marlins Latin American field coordinator Angel Espada and Marlins Latin American pitching coordinator Ivan Arteaga.
