The Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves are set to get together to start a four game series on Thursday. The Miami Marlins are 40-68, and dead last in the National League East. The Marlins are coming off a win on the road at Tampa Bay on Thursday.
For Atlanta, they are now 58-49 on the season. The Braves are in second place in the National League East, only behind the Phillies. The Braves are battling with a handful of teams for the three National League wildcard spots.
The Atlanta Braves are -200 in this game. The total is 8.5.
Young Marlins Squad
In the win on Wednesday, Jonah Bride hit his first home run of the season for the Marlins, and later Xavier Edwards drove in three runs, and Jake Burger knocked his 15th home run over the boards. The Marlins were one of the worst offensive teams in the league, at 29th, with 3.6 runs scored per game.
Miami traded away both Jazz Chisholm and Bryan De La Cruz leaving the offense a little empty handed. The top threats now are Burger, and Jesus Sanchez, who has 12 homeruns on the season. The Marlins are 28th in all of Major League Baseball, with 94 home runs hit on the season.
Miami is on the road for these four games, and then will head home and host the Cincinnati Reds for four starting Monday. Next weekend, the San Diego Padres come to town for a weekend series.
Beat up Braves Hanging in
The 2024 season has been full of injuries for the Atlanta Braves. They are without Ronald Acuna and Michael Harris, and recently lost Ozzie Albies. Spencer Strider and Max Fried are also out for Atlanta. The Braves though have added Jorge Soler, and are still in competition for the top wildcard in the National League.
Marcell Ozuna has been a monster for Atlanta so far this season. Ozuna has 31 homeruns to anchor the team. Matt Olson hit a home run in the game on Wednesday, and now has 16 on the season. Austin Riley is next on the Braves roster, with 14 bombs on the season.
Veteran right hander Charlie Morton will get the start for the Atlanta Braves. Morton is making his 20th start of the season. He is 5-6 on the season, with a 4.16 earned run average. Morton has struck out 103 batters and walked 39 so far this season. He has allowed 14 homeruns over 19 starts.
Atlanta will host Milwaukee for three next week, before heading out on the road to take on the Rockies.
Atlanta Bests Miami
We like the Braves to win this game. Morton will be strong, as a veteran, against a pretty short handed Miami team. The Braves win this game, and win it by a couple runs. Take the Atlanta Braves -1.5 (+110) over the Miami Marlins on Thursday.