New York Yankees vs. Miami Marlins: Series Preview

The slog that has been the 2023 Yankees’ season continued earlier this week as they dropped a series to the seemingly dysfunctional White Sox in Chicago. As they try to pick up the pieces from there, they’re now headed south for a set against the Marlins that starts tonight.

Other than a brief run in the COVID-expanded 2020 playoffs, the Marlins haven’t had much to write home about since their 2003 World Series win over the Yankees. However, they’ve put together a solid team this year, one which currently holds a 0.5 game lead for the last NL Wild Card spot. They’ve managed to do that with reigning NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara merely being solid instead of great. The next couple days will hardy be a simple cake walk for the Yankees.

Before things get going tonight, let’s take a look at the pitching matchups expected for this weekend.

Friday: Ian Hamilton vs. Jesús Luzardo (6:40 pm ET)

With Carlos Rodón’s hamstring injury landing him on the IL, the Yankees now have an open rotation spot in Friday night’s opener. Having just done an opener spot on Wednesday, they might opt to bring up a Jhony Brito or Randy Vásquez, but we shall see. (Update: Ian Hamilton will get the ball again as the opener, but Vásquez is expected to relieve him.)

The Yankees have a bit of experience with Luzardo, having faced him while he was a member of the A’s. However while he mostly struggled in Oakland, he’s been pretty good in Miami for the last two seasons. He has been iffy in his last two starts, but for the season he has a 3.52 ERA and 3.45 FIP.

Saturday: Nestor Cortes TBD vs. Sandy Alcantara (4:10 pm ET)

Last Saturday, Cortes returned for his first start since coming off the IL, and he did about as well as you could hope. He allowed one run on one hit while striking out eight in four innings against the Astros. He also looked a lot more like the Nestor Cortes from last season opposed to the one who had struggled before getting injured this season. (Update: Cortes will instead head on the IL; look for Brito to potentially start in his stead since he’ll be on full rest.)

The Yankees will take on the aforementioned reigning NL Cy Young on Saturday when Alcantara gets the start. While he struggled to start the season, he’s been much better since the end of June. Including his last start of June he has a 2.85 ERA in 53.2 innings across eight games. It’s only two games and 14.1 innings, but he has held the Yankees in check the two times he’s faced them in his career.

Sunday: Gerrit Cole vs. Eury Pérez (1:40 pm ET)

Cole’s final numbers from his most recent start look a bit worse than it actually was, as it was mostly another good start from him. In general, Cole has been one of the few bright spots for the Yankees this season, and he’ll look to take another step forward in the AL Cy Young race.

This will be the first time the Yankees get a look at Pérez, who was a highly rated prospect and has been very impressive in his MLB career so far. That being said, he is coming off his worst start in the bigs so far, having allowed four runs in 4.2 innings against the Reds. That being said, it was his first major league start in a month, as the Marlins had sent him down for a bit to try and manage his innings.