The New York Mets (46-63) welcome the Miami Marlins (55-54) for a four game series at Citi Field. The Marlins, coming off a sweep of the Phillies, had lost 12 in a row before then. In fact, the last seven series the Marlins have played have been sweeps in either direction.
The Mets had a chance to sweep the Braves last night at Citi Field, but instead fell 1-0 in a very well pitched game between Chris Sale and Christian Scott. Scott was tagged by an RBI single off the bat of Matt Olson, the only blemish
in the game. The Mets won a one-run game in the matinee of Wednesday’s doubleheader as well, but the two games that preceded the pair of one-run affairs were routs with the Mets defeating two first-place teams by sizable margins.
This doesn’t mean anything for the Mets’ postseason hopes, dashed as they are, but it is nice to see contributions from players who will either be a part of the team’s future or will be traded in the next five days for players who, hopefully, will be a part of the team’s future.
On that note, the big story of this weekend for the Mets is their players that may be moved before the trade deadline on Monday. The spotlight will be on Freddy Peralta on Friday, for he’s the most high-profile player on the block. The Mets traded two of their top prospects for Peralta (and Tobias Myers), but it seems unlikely that they’ll get a similar package back. Not that one Peralta gem will suddenly shoot his stock through the roof, but it may be enough to nudge a little more out of the return.
This weekend is a tricky balance of highlighting those potentially moving players while also not risking them getting hurt and tanking their trade value. It remains to be seen who the Mets actually move, but it wouldn’t be shocking if the Mets moved more than five players off the active roster before Monday night’s game. This weekend is going to be your last shot to see some of these players in blue and orange, so soak up your A.J. Minter and Tyrone Taylor moments now.
As mentioned earlier, the Marlins are having a weird season. They’re hovering around .500 while in third place in the NL East, but had a magical June and a fairly disastrous July, bookended by some big wins. Their best pitcher, Max Meyer, is currently out, but the team is getting contributions up and down their roster. Griffin Conine, since coming off the IL, has been a bit of a spark for the club, and Sandy Alcantara is looking more like the stud he was always projected to be.
This is a team that has stymied the Mets on their postseason runs too many times, and while most of those players no longer play in Miami, the Otto Lopezes and Xavier Edwardses of the world are reminders that it isn’t always the superstars who come back to bite you. This team is pesky, resilient, and coming off a sweep of the Phillies. It’s going to be a tough series.
Thursday, July 30: Nolan McLean vs Eury Pérez, 7:10pm EDT on SNY
McLean (2026): 119.1 IP, 142 K, 43BB, 11 HR, 3.32 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 81 ERA-
Six straight quality starts are what McLean is bringing into his start with the Fish tonight. McLean hasn’t looked quite as sharp as he did last year at a few times this season, but he’s on a really nice run right now that is starting to harken back to his 2025 greatness.
Pérez (2026): 98.2 IP, 106 K, 38 BB, 13 HR, 3.56 ERA, 4.08 FIP, 83 ERA-
Still not quite back to his pre-injury success, Pérez has been a solid pitcher for the Marlins this season. His last four starts have all been quality ones and he’s starting to get his strikeouts back up. In his July 19th start against the Brewers, he limited them to just one hit and three walks while striking out nine. He fared worse against the Padres in his next start, but still went seven innings of three-run ball.
Friday, July 31: Freddy Peralta vs Janson Junk, 7:10pm EDT on SNY
Peralta (2026): 113.2 IP, 113 K, 48 BB, 17 HR, 4.99 ERA, 4.47 FIP, 122 ERA-
Friday will almost certainly be Freddy’s last start as a Met, and that brings with it mixed emotions. On one hand, he was nowhere near the pitcher the Mets thought they were getting when they traded for him, and so there is a bit of ‘good riddance’ attached to his departure. But on the other, Peralta represents what could’ve been for the Mets this year had the chips fallen differently. He joins Justin Verlander as recent half-season Met starters who couldn’t help get the team to the postseason.
Junk (2026): 73.2 IP, 57 K, 20 BB, 11 HR, 4.89 ERA, 4.36 FIP, 114 ERA-
It is far too easy to call Junk a junk baller, but for a dude who doesn’t strike out a ton of guys, lives on weak contact, and can sometimes lose the strike zone. it would be unprofessional for me not to make the joke. Junk missed six weeks between May and July and, since he returned, he’s had two fairly good starts and one disaster, but all have been short outings.
Saturday, August 1: Zac Thornton vs Tyler Phillips, 1:40pm EDT on SNY
Thornton (2026): 29.2 IP, 22 K, 7 BB, 2 HR, 2.43 ERA, 3.21 FIP, 59 ERA-
Thornton continues to impress in his most recent stay in the majors, even if a lot of his success has come from getting excellent defense from the players behind him. His most recent start against the Braves was his worst since his second call up, but was still a quality start. A sub-3.00 ERA is probably not a realistic long term goal for the rest of the season, but if Thornton can pitch well enough to be penciled in as the Mets’ fourth or fifth starter in 2027, that would be a very good thing.
Phillips (2026): 84.1 IP, 63 K, 38 BB, 10 HR, 3.52 ERA, 4.62 FIP, 82 ERA-
A Jersey native, Phillips has been used as a starter, an opener, a closer, and as middle relief this year for the Fish. As a starter, he had two excellent appearances at the end of June where he pitched six and seven and a third innings, respectively, against the Rangers and Cardinals. Since then, he’s been up and down in terms of success, but hasn’t gone very deep into games.
