Alcantara's comeback season powering Marlins’ turnaround

MIAMI — Before the 2026 season even started, Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara was projected by the front office to have the best season of his career. 

While the first half of this season hasn’t been his best — a high task considering his 2022 Cy Young campaign — Alcantara has pitched like the frontline starting pitcher the Marlins need if they are to make a run at the postseason. 

Even in a 3-2 loss against the Cleveland Guardians on Friday, Alcantara allowed only three runs on five hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings. 

“Outside of a couple blips this half, this has been kind of what we've seen almost with the majority of his starts is him again filling up the strike zone, executing very well, using both sides of the plate,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said during his postgame press conference.

Surprisingly enough, it was the first outing Alcantara lost since May, before the Marlins turned their season around. 

“This run we've been on, and how we've been able to play, he has been a huge part of that because every fifth or sixth day,” McCullough said. “He comes in there, and you're going to almost bank six innings or more, either have the lead when he exits or be in a position to win.”

Alcantara dropped his ERA to 3.99 on the season. For comparison’s sake, when he was coming back from Tommy John surgery, his ERA entering the 2025 MLB All-Star break was an MLB-high 7.22. Alcantara said during his postgame press conference that he has come “very far” this year, and the biggest difference is that he has gone from “talking about bad games” last year to “doing so great since Opening Day.”

"This year feels much different, but more so because of how great we've been doing," Alcantara said. "My mentality has also changed a lot. The way I've been attacking hitters this year and going deep into games has really helped."

Alcantara developed a sweeper entering the season, but recently, his cutter has been a big contributor to his run throughout June. He threw the cutter 20% of the time on Friday, half of which resulted in swinging strikes.

"It's been a great pitch. I don't think some of the hitters know I have that yet, so I've been getting a lot of swing-and-miss," Alcantara said. 

McCullough said Alcantara “came into this year very motivated to pick up where he left off last year.” His first-half highlights include a 24-inning scoreless streak to open the season, a 6-0 run through June, becoming the fifth active Dominican-born pitcher to reach 1,000 strikeouts, and breaking the Marlins' career strikeout record. 

Most importantly, the Marlins (52-43) enter the weekend three games from first place in the National League East and tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for the second wild card spot. 

“Why can I not be happy this year knowing that everybody’s not perfect, especially in baseball? I’m very happy the way I’ve been working out there,” Alcantara said.

Join our ROUNDTABLE community! It's free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members.

Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected!