The Miami Marlins have a remarkable franchise streak — they have never lost a postseason series as they enter Game 1 of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday in Houston.
Atlanta will start Max Fried, who in 12 starts between the regular and postseason has given up three runs or fewer in each with just two home runs and 19 walks allowed in 63 innings to go with a 2.00 ERA.
The Braves back him up with the only remaining lineup that has three batters who hit over .315 in the regular season, with Freddie Freeman, Marcell Ozuna and Travis d’Arnaud headlining an offense the ranked second in the MLB in runs per game (5.71).
The Marlins counter with a solid offense of their own as they scored at least four runs in seven of their 10 games against the Braves during the regular season while giving up an average of 6.8 runs per game, though the game in which they gave up an astounding 29 runs certainly inflates that figure.
The Marlins produced those numbers despite dealing with much of their roster being out at some point during the season due to a combination of injury and their early season COVID-19 outbreak. With Miami’s bullpen ERA for the season being more than a full point higher at 5.50 than any other team remaining in the postseason, the opening game of this series at Minute Maid Park should feature a lot of offense in spite of all Fried has accomplished in 2020.
The Play: Marlins-Braves total, Over 8.