Phils vs. Fish — Series Preview: Phillies at Brewers, September 5-7

After a heavyweight matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers, the Phillies will head down south for 3 games against an upstart Marlins team.

In terms of what these 2 ballclubs have in common, there really isn’t much. While the Phillies are one of the oldest and most experienced veterans with the goal of winning a World Series, the Marlins are in what they hope to be the tail end of their rebuild, led by young stars like Kyle Stowers.

Hot against not

While the Marlins’ offense hasn’t been bad at all as of late, the team’s success has slowed down since being one of the hottest teams in the league.

The first name that should pop into your head when thinking about Miami’s offense is Stowers. After being shipped from Baltimore to the Marlins at last year’s trade deadline, he has broken out to become the face of the franchise and a true superstar caliber player. Fortunately for the Phillies, Stowers is still dealing with an injury and hasn’t played since August 15th.

Xavier Edwards has also emerged for the Marlins as one of the better contact hitters in baseball. In a weird way almost the heir apparent to Luis Arraez in Miami. While an average August and slow start to September have skewed his numbers a bit, he’s still hitting a respectable .281 with 2 home runs and 34 RBIs.

Their young catcher, Agustin Ramirez, despite not getting on base often, has been a consistent power threat in the lineup with one of the highest slugging percentages on the team.

With Stowers out of the lineup, there is not much to fear. The roster still has a lot of holes, which is to be expected for a young team, and Phillies pitchers should hopefully be able to thrive.

The Phillies, strangely enough, have been finding ways to win despite a struggling Kyle Schwarber. In his last 11 games, he’s hitting just .150. If you take out his historic 4 home run game, he’s hitting a brutal .058 in the stretch.

One of the biggest reasons the Phillies have been able to succeed has been Harrison Bader. After getting traded to the Phillies from the Twins at the trade deadline, Bader had a rough start at the plate in his first few weeks as a Phillie. Now, along with flashing his gold glove caliber glove, he’s been the best outfielder on the team in his last 10 games with a .389 batting average across that time.

Trea Turner, who’s been one of the best players in the league this season, has also stayed hot in his last 10 games. Along with a revolutionized game defensively, he’s hitting .318 with 7 RBIs in the last 10 contests.

Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, and even the likes of Bryson Stott and Max Kepler seem to be getting hot at the plate at the right time, with the playoffs less than a month away.

One person who seems to be headed in the opposite direction, however, is Nick Castellanos. He’s been benched multiple times this season and is hitting at just a .212 clip in his last 10 games. Looking forward to the playoffs again, Castellanos has certainly risen to the occasion a handful of times while also struggling at times as well.

Old faces in new places on the mound

The Marlins only had 1 scheduled starter in the series until late Thursday night, which makes it tough to predict what exactly the Phillies will be up against.

Game 1: Cristopher Sanchez will make his 28th start of the season. Sanchez, who has been in Cy Young conversations this year, has historically dominated when facing Miami.

It’s been an up and down last couple of weeks for Sanchez. His last time out against the Braves, he dominated. He pitched 7 innings, allowing only 1 run and striking out 8 Braves hitters. However, the time before in New York against the Mets was one of Sanchez’s worst starts of the season. In a blowout loss, he allowed 6 earned runs in 5.1 innings.

The Marlins will have Valente Bellozo go for Game 1. Bellozo, over just 5 starts this season, has a 3.91 ERA in 73.2 innings.

In Game 2, the Marlins plan to trot out the veteran Sandy Alcantara. At first glance, you would think the Phillies lineup should have a field day against Alcantara, whose ERA sits at 5.66. Despite the rough start to the season, Alcantara has begun to look like his old self more often in his last 4 starts. In that span, he’s pitched 27 innings to the tune of a 1.67 ERA along with 29 strikeouts. His last outing against the Mets was arguably his best of the hot streak, where he pitched 7 1 run innings en route to a Marlins victory.

Going against the Marlins for the Phillies is a familiar face within the organization. Former Marlin Jesus Luzardo will look to build off his great month of August against his old team. It’s been a rollercoaster of performance all season for Luzardo, and he seems to be in an upswing this August with a 3.12 ERA. He looked incredible in his last start against the Braves, where he pitched 6.2 scoreless innings in one of his best starts of the year.

Sticking with the theme of former Marlins and Phillies, there’s a good chance we’ll get to see the former Phillie Tyler Phillips at some point during this series. After playing for the Phillies in 2024, he was shipped to Miami for cash considerations over the winter. He’s caught the eye of numerous baseball fans for his incredibly serious demeanor at all times and has been having a good season for the Marlins with a 3.15 ERA.

There’s locked in, and then there’s Tyler Phillips… pic.twitter.com/d5wDiFa3OW

— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) August 24, 2025

Again, in game 3, I can’t tell you what the Phillies will be up against since the Marlins do not have any starter listed.

For the Phillies, they’ll be sending out Taijuan Walker to finish off the fish. Walker has had a great rebound year and is coming off an August where he had a 3.14 ERA in 5 starts. However, Walker did struggle in his last appearance against the Brewers. The red-hot Milwaukee lineup put up 5 runs in just 4 innings pitched against Walker, undoing much of his progress from August.

Walker knows the Marlins well, with 17 career starts against them and a lot of success, as he has a 3.46 ERA against them in his career.

Game Times and Broadcasts

Friday, September 5th, 7:10 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP, WTTM 1680

Saturday, September 6th, 4:10 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP, WTTM 1680

Sunday, September 7th, 1:40 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 1210 WPHT, WTTM 1680

Probable Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Cristopher Sanchez (LHP, 11-5, 2.66 ERA) vs. Valente Bellozo (RHP, 1-3, 3.91 ERA)

Game 2: Jesus Luzardo (LHP, 12-6, 4.05 ERA) vs. Sandy Alcantara (RHP, 8-11, 5.66 ERA)

Game 3: Taijuan Walker (RHP, 4-7, 3.92 ERA) vs. TBD

By The Numbers

• Records
  • Phillies: 81-59
  • Marlins: 65-75
• Run Differential
  • Phillies: 100
  • Marlins: -93
• Runs Scored Per Game
  • Phillies: 4.77
  • Marlins: 4.33
• Runs Allowed Per Game
  • Phillies: 4.06
  • Marlins: 4.99

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