Opposition research: Sandy Alcantara

Sometimes they don’t come back the same

Perhaps they overachieved in getting there, but the 2023 Marlins were a playoff team. However, success for the Marlins is often fleeting. Two years later, they’ve got one of the worst rosters in baseball and appear headed for a last place finish in the National League East.

There are several reasons for the downfall, but the biggest might be the drop off from starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara. Alcantara won the NL’s Cy Young Award in 2022, and while he wasn’t nearly as dominant in 2023, he was still a quality pitcher. As it turned out, one reason for his decline was because he was enduring a worsening strain of his UCL.

That injury ultimately required Tommy John surgery which cost Alcantara the 2024 season.

Alcantara returned to start the 2025 season, but he hasn’t looked anything like his old self. His velocity is back to where it used to be before surgery, but as if often the case with pitchers recovering from Tommy John surgery, the command is way off. He was getting rocked by opposing lineups, and had six straight starts where he allowed at least four runs.

There is reason for the Marlins to hope that Alcantara is rounding into form. In his last two starts, he’s only given up two earned runs over 12 innings. However, it should be noted that those two starts were against the Pirates and Rockies which are likely the two weakest lineups in the National League.

His start on Monday will be a better test. The Phillies have had some success against Alcantara over the years, and they roughed him up back in April, scoring six runs in two innings.

Marlins fans shouldn’t get that excited either way. If Alcantara does continue to look good, it feels like a lock that he’ll be traded to a contender as more fuel for the Marlins’ perpetual rebuilding process.

X-Men character of the series

Archangel

Warren Worthington III served as one of the original X-Men as the Angel. But after his wings were badly injured and amputated, Angel was “repaired” by the evil mutant Apocalypse. He returned, but clearly wasn’t the same: He had blue skin, metallic wings, and served as one of Apocalypse’s horsemen.

Additional thought about the series

What a difference one week makes. Last Monday, the Phillies were coming off a sweep at the hand of the dreadful Pirates and appeared to be in a tailspin. Naturally, they proceeded to go 5-1 against the Cubs and Blue Jays. This is another reminder that the baseball season is long, and teams will go through some ebbs and flows throughout.

The Phillies seem to have a great opportunity to add some more wins as they travel to Miami for four games against the last place Marlins. Especially when the Phillies appear to have a clear starting pitching advantage in every game.

But this wouldn’t be the first time that a seemingly hot Phillies team faced an underwhelming Marlins team and ended up losing the series. And for what it’s worth, the Marlins are coming off a sweep of their own, having taken all three games against the Nationals. But that might have more to do with the current state of the Nationals, who appear to be self-destructing.

Regardless of how hot the Marlins are, the Phillies would do well to win this series. After this, the Phillies have a very tough schedule until the All-Star break, so it would be ideal to bank as many wins as they can.