Sandy Alcantara dominates on the mound, fueling Marlins NL East predictions and a potential second Cy Young. Can Miami shock baseball?
The Miami Marlins were one of the hottest teams in baseball before losing four of their next five after a 5-1 start. Despite the recent struggles, ESPN's baseball writers have high expectations for the ball club.
In a column released Wednesday, writers gave their hot takes two weeks into the season, and fantasy writer AJ Mass' takes on the Marlins are scorching.
Mass said the Marlins would win the NL East division and Sandy Alcantara would earn his second Cy Young award. Mass believes his predictions are achievable throughout the season, a requirement ESPN made for all its reporters for the story.
It’s been four seasons since Alcantara won his first Cy Young. Although Mass' read on the Marlins' ace is a hot take, the 30-year-old veteran is one of the best pitchers in the league right now.
He’s undefeated in his three starts, giving up 10 hits, three runs, two earned runs and tallying 18 strikeouts throughout 87 pitches in 24 innings. Alcantara’s ERA is 0.74, which is the seventh-best in the league.
The right-hander is starting his season better than he did in 2022, and the key behind it is his confidence returning from the second half of last season.
“The aggression was there, the confidence was there,” Alcantara said before opening day. “I was going deep in the game. Taking from last year, bring them back this year.”
Alcantara is even performing better than last year’s NL Cy Young winner, Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Skenes gave up nine hits, seven runs, seven earned runs and a home run with 12 strikeouts in 67 pitches, albeit in half the innings pitched. Alcantara’s sample size is much larger, but the efficiency is what stands out the most, including pitching a complete shutout game against the Chicago White Sox.
As for the Marlins winning the NL East division, it is a much tougher challenge.
Historically, the club hasn’t finished higher than second place in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.
Miami finished second in the division in 2020. Although they started the season 5-1, the team has taken a nosedive in the past five games.
The Marlins lost the series against the New York Yankees, 2-1, to start April and are down 2-0 in the Cincinnati Reds series.
Despite the recent losses, manager Clayton McCullough is focused on building a consistent championship contender.
“I didn’t come here to sign up to lose,” McCullough told reporters on Feb. 16. “Our players in that clubhouse don’t show up here each day worrying about where the projection is this year, and what someone else thinks we may or may not do.”
ESPN’s Mass has massive expectations for the Marlins two weeks into the season, but he believes Miami can prove him right.
The club may be trending downwards, but two weeks don’t tell the whole story of the season. There are still 151 games left for Miami to fulfill expectations cast upon them.
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