Previewing final 2024 Marlins homestand

We have mercifully arrived at this season's final week of Miami Marlins home games. They'll be hosting the Dodgers and Braves for three games apiece. Fun opportunity to play spoiler against one team that's vying for the National League's best record and another that's currently on the outside looking in at the final NL Wild Card spot.

There are two more theme games—Heat Night on Friday and Harry Potter Day on Sunday—that include tank tops/jerseys when you purchase a special ticket package. There's also a "rewind sale" throughout the weekend where you can snag merch from this season's previous theme games.

With six home games left, the Marlins are 190,820 short of last year's total attendance. It would require the best six-game stretch in loanDepot park regular season history (including multiple sellouts) to close that gap.

Here's more Marlins news and content:

🔷 With the first full-length offseason of the Peter Bendix era approaching, more longtime Marlins employees have lost their jobs. Francys Romero reports that three international scouts were dismissed. Among them, Angel Izquierdo, whose impact on the organization will be felt for years to come thanks to his signing of Eury Pérez for $200k in 2019. Coordinator of baseball information services Bradley Woodrum announced that the team let him go after seven seasons. Let's hope they land even better opportunities elsewhere!

🔷 Fish On First has learned that Ryan Weathers will make his return from the injured list on Wednesday. A strained index finger on his throwing hand disrupted what was shaping up to be a breakout season. For the first time since the trade deadline, his presence inserts a lefty into the Marlins rotation. Because Weathers is on the 60-day IL, corresponding moves will be needed to get him back on both the 40-man and active rosters.

🔷 I observed that Shohei Ohtani's NL MVP-caliber season is eerily similar to what Giancarlo Stanton did in 2017.

🔷 Made The Cut revisits the "disastrous" tenure of Barry Bonds as Marlins hitting coach.

🔷 Happy 28th birthday to RHP Jeff Lindgren and 22nd birthday to INF Yiddi Cappe. Lindgren was called up by the Marlins last week, but hasn't appeared in a game for them yet this season (he logged seven innings in relief last season). Cappe just concluded his season with High-A Beloit. Fully moved off of shortstop and barely hitting for any power, he has fallen out of the Marlins Top 30 prospects conversation and seems poised to repeat the High-A level again in 2025. 

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, Starling Marte's walk-off single ensured a winning season for the Mets and a losing season for the Nationals. The Tigers pulled to within 1.5 games of the Twins for the final AL Wild Card spot (though the Twins own the tiebreaker). The day after I acknowledged it in Offishial News, Luis Arraez's no-strikeout streak came to an end. He also exited the game early with knee inflammation, but isn't expected to miss extended time.

🔷 Today's MLB game: it's the first of three contests between the Marlins (probable starter RHP Darren McCaughan) and the Dodgers (RHP Bobby Miller). The Marlins have a 42.1% chance to win, per FanGraphs. First pitch at 6:40 p.m.

🔷 Join us for a new episode of Fish On First LIVE today from 5:30-6:30 p.m. ET on YouTube/Twitter/Facebook. Special guests: @Sean Millerick and Gianmarco Ranalli (marlins.city on Instagram). FOF LIVE is presented by Berger & Hicks. If you’ve been injured as a result of somebody else’s negligence, give them a call at (305) 670-7050.

🔷 Today's MiLB schedule:

• Triple-A Jacksonville vs. Gwinnett, 7:05 p.m. ET

Marlins podcast episodes