Marlins' Sandy Alcantara in position to waylay Mets' plans

From the perspective of the New York Mets, Sandy Alcantara might as well change his name to Freddy Krueger.

With the Mets trying desperately to hold onto the final National League wild-card playoff berth, facing Alcantara and the Marlins in Miami on Friday night is a scary proposition.

Alcantara has been mediocre this season, going 10-12 with a 5.48 ERA. However, the right-hander, who missed all of last season following Tommy John surgery, has looked back to his 2022 NL Cy Young Award form when facing the Mets this season.

In two starts against New York, Alcantara is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA. And over 17 career starts against the Mets, he is 5-5 with an impressive 2.98 ERA.

Alcantara also has a 3.25 ERA in 87 career appearances (83 starts) in Miami. In 89 road outings (85 starts), he owns a 4.08 ERA.

The Mets have little margin for error entering the three-game weekend series in Miami, where they are 2-1 this year. Only a sweep of the Marlins will guarantee New York a playoff berth, barring outside help.

After going 11-17 in August and entering play Friday with a 9-13 mark in September, New York has seen a stroll into the postseason turn into a nail-biter. The Mets (82-77) have just a one-game lead on the Reds (81-78) in the chase for the third NL wild card, and Cincinnati holds the tiebreaker.

The Arizona Diamondbacks (80-79) are just two games behind the Mets, whose 37-53 record since June 13 is the fifth worst in the majors.

"We've got to play better," New York manager Carlos Mendoza said. "We're better than that."

The Marlins (77-82), who were eliminated from playoff contention after a 1-0 road loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, will now attempt to play the role of spoiler.

On Friday, Miami will get its first look at Mets rookie right-hander Brandon Sproat (0-1, 3.94 ERA). In fact, he has made just three major league appearances, but two of them were quality starts.

However, his most recent start was a dud, as Sproat allowed four runs in four innings during a no-decision against the last-place Washington Nationals on Sept. 19.

Sproat, a 25-year-old former Florida Gators star, can reach 100 mph with his fastball, but he sits at 95-98. His best pitch is his changeup, and he also features a quality slider to go with a curve and a sweeper.

"It's all-hands on deck," Sproat said when asked about being thrust into a playoff push. "I'm going to compete on every pitch until the ball is taken out of my hand."

Meanwhile, the Marlins -- after a poor start -- went 14-12 in June, 15-10 in July, 13-17 in August and 12-10 in September entering Friday. Miami has won seven of its past nine games and 11 of 14.

"Our focus from spring training was to get better every day," Marlins rookie manager Clayton McCullough said. "To know our season ends on Sunday doesn't take away from the steps we took this season.

"We have Sandy, Eury (Perez) and (Edward Cabrera) starting this weekend. We've got it lined up. We want to finish strong."

The Mets-Marlins season series is tied 5-5. However, in the most recent matchup, Miami won 3 of 4 in New York from Aug. 28-31.

--Field Level Media