Marlins aim to spoil Mets' fading playoff hopes

New York's season is on the brink.

The Mets, who are set to play the host Miami Marlins again on Saturday night, have baseball's highest payroll at $323 million (according to USA Today and other sources).

Yet the Mets (82-78) lost to the low-budget Marlins 6-2 on Friday night in a game New York desperately needed. Combined with Cincinnati's 3-1 win over Milwaukee on Friday, the Mets have lost control of the final National League wild-card berth. If the Reds win their final two games, the Mets are out.

"It's unfortunate that we lost this one," Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said after Friday's game. "But we'll come back tomorrow and get ‘em."

Meanwhile, Miami (78-82) was eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday.

However, prior to Friday's game, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough was fairly brash in his statement to the media.

"We know that Sunday ends our season," McCullough said. "But we would love nothing more than to have the Mets watching games (next week) from the same place we will be."

The Marlins, who have baseball's lowest payroll at $67 million, already have improved by 16 wins over last season. That's the biggest improvement in franchise history, excluding years following shortened seasons.

As for Saturday's game, two right-handers will start: Clay Holmes (11-8, 3.66 ERA) for the Mets and Eury Perez (7-5, 4.20) for Miami.

Holmes is 2-1 with a 3.96 ERA in 12 career appearances against the Marlins, including three starts.

But Holmes, who was converted from reliever to starter this year, had a 2.87 ERA on June 13. Since then, he has a 4.43 ERA.

Then again, that has been the story of the Mets' season. The pitching rotation has imploded since June 12.

Kodai Senga had a 1.47 ERA on June 12, but his performance dropped, and he was demoted to Triple-A.

Griffin Canning (3.22 ERA on June 12) and Tylor Megill (3.76 ERA on June 12) both suffered season-ending injuries. Frankie Montas also is done for the year, and Paul Blackburn (3.00 ERA on June 12) was released.

David Peterson, an All-Star this year, had a 2.49 ERA on June 12. Since then, he has posted a 5.76 ERA. In fact, he has a 12.54 ERA over his past five starts.

Sean Manaea, who was New York's ace last season with a 12-6 record and a 3.47 ERA, missed the first half of this season due to injury. He has been dropped from the rotation for two of his three most recent appearances.

All totaled, 17 Mets have started at least one game this season, which explains why the team is in this predicament.

On the other side, Perez is 0-2 with a 17.18 ERA in two career starts against the Mets. He lasted just three innings in his first start against the Mets, which happened in 2023. Then, on Aug. 29 of this year, Perez lasted just two-thirds of an inning in a 19-9 loss to the Mets. He allowed five runs on three hits.

But while that game was a laugher, the Marlins are 6-5 against New York this season.

"We want to to play spoilers," said Marlins third baseman Connor Norby, who homered on Friday. "We want to sweep this series and go into the offseason strong."

--Field Level Media