Houston Astros Visit the Miami Marlins — Series Preview

The Astros visit Miami for three games.

• By
  
  Kevin Kraczkowski
  
• on August 13, 2023 8:42 pm

At 5:40 PM CT on Monday afternoon, the Miami Marlins will host the Houston Astros in the first game of a three-game series.

Gametimes and Starting Pitchers

Monday at 5:40 PM CT — Framber Valdez (9-7, 3.30) vs. Braxton Garrett (6-3, 4.08)
Tuesday at 5:40 PM CT — Cristian Javier (8-2, 4.36) vs. Johnny Cueto (0-3, 5.33)
Wednesday at 5:40 PM CT — Justin Verlander (7-6, 3.19) vs. Jesus Luzardo (8-7, 3.91)

Houston and Miami haven’t played each other very much in recent seasons, but they played a lot more when both clubs were in the National League. The Astros have an 83-80 all-time regular season record versus the Fish, with no postseason meetings. Last season, the two met three times, with Miami winning twice. In the finale on June 12, the Astros salvaged a victory, 9-4. Jose Altuve (12) & Yordan Alvarez each had three hits, with one of Altuve’s a three-run homer. Alex Bregman & Jeremy Peña (9) also had multi-hit games, with Peña also going deep with a runner on.

Justin Verlander (8-2, 1.94) was the winning pitcher of record, pitching seven innings of three-hit ball. He did allow four unearned runs, walking one and striking out five on his way to the 2022 American League Cy Young Award.

The Astros just finished a short homestand, winning two-of-three against the Los Angeles Angels. After winning the first two by twin 11-3 scores, they dropped the final contest by a 2-1 score. Here’s some highlights from their last win, Saturday night.

The Marlins are halfway through a six-game homestand, winning two-of-three from the New York Yankees. In the last game, on Sunday, Miami scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth to take an 8-7 come-from-behind walk-off victory.

Playoff Outlook

Fangraphs projects the playoff field thusly:

AL

1. Rays
   2. Rangers
   3. Twins
   4. Orioles
   5. Astros
   6. Blue Jays

NL

1. Braves
   2. Dodgers
   3. Brewers
   4. Phillies
   5. Giants
   6. Marlins

So the Astros would begin on the road in a wildcard series versus the Baltimore Orioles, while the Marlins would also start on the road, against the Milwaukee Brewers. This outcome is looking likelier by the day as the Texas Rangers have somehow embiggened their AL West lead even while Houston has gone 18-10 since the All Star break.

Speaking of the Rangers, the hard charging Mall-Cops will open their three-game set against the Los Angeles Angels at Arlington. Hopefully, the Angels play a little better against the Rangers than they did in Houston. At the same time, the Mariners will play the Kansas City Royals four times in Kaufmann Stadium.

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