As they prepare to play the Diamondbacks on Monday night, the Miami Marlins are taking the field just one day removed from their dramatic and emotional ninth-inning comeback against the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

The Fish are riding that wave after a walk-off home run from Augustin Ramirez against the World Series Champions helped steal a win. Miami (now 73-76) continues to claw for the .500 mark in what has been a pretty impressive performance in 2026. The club wasn't really expected to contend for a postseason spot until this time next year, but they decided to go ahead and tap on the door a little early.

“Right now,” Miami manager Clayton McCullough said recently to the Miami Herald, “I’m just as much concerned as just going here and trying to get a win, and hopefully we can have that springboard us into, you know, another winning series.”

“Certainly not as great [a situation] as it was three days ago, five days ago... but it’s the spot we’re in.”

Realistically, the Marlins were done in by a brutal 12-game losing streak in July that essentially sank the ship for the season. No team in the history of the game has had a winless stretch like that and still managed to qualify for the postseason.

Still, considering the odds stacked against them, Miami has achieved success... even in the midst of a massive rebuilding campaign by president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. 

 On Monday night, the Fish will face their National League West rivals under the desert skies of Phoenix, as they battle the Arizona Diamondbacks (79-51). The Snakes still have a realistic shot at the postseason with 12 games left on their schedule. They're currently sitting behind the San Diego Padres (81-68) by 2.5 games for the final slot, as the regular season enters its final stretch.

Tonight could be a low-scoring affair, with two former Cy Young winners on the hill. Both hurlers have the experience and the arsenal to keep their opponents' offenses in check.

The Marlins will face the first pitch in Phoenix at around 9:40 ET at Arizona's Chase Field, and it will be delivered by the Snakes' outstanding righthander, Corbin Burnes. He's got a pretty small sample size for 2026. He's only made one appearance all year and is scoreless in three innings thrown, with two strikeouts. That start came just a week ago, as an abbreviated outing against the Kansas City Royals on September 8.

So, Monday will be just the second pass through the rotation for Burnes, the 2021 Cy Young winner while with the Milwaukee Brewers, who has missed most of the year following Tommy John Surgery. The veteran has made over 150 career MLB starts across his time with the Milwaukee Brewers, Baltimore Orioles, and Arizona Diamondbacks

For the Fish, the venerable Sandy Alcantara, the winner of the 2022 award, will get the ball. The Miami righthander (13-10, 3.78 ERA) will be making the 201st start of his big league career.