Bring In The Clowns: Mets and Marlins, Both 22-29 Coming In, Play For Last Place In The NL East At loanDepot This Weekend

MIAMI — The Miami Marlins and New York Mets both walked into loanDepot park on Friday night at 22-29 in the National League East. Five teams in this division. These two were the bottom two. The Mets had spent the spring as Steve Cohen’s $325-million payroll project. The Marlins had spent the spring as one of baseball’s smallest budgets and most active rebuilds. The records ended up the same.

Then Miami won Game 1, 2-1. Eury Pérez went 6.1 innings and allowed one run on Juan Soto’s tenth home run of the year. Owen Caissie drove in both Marlins runs. Esteury Ruiz tripled in the fourth and scored. Attendance was 17,095, which sounds substantial until you realize loanDepot park’s capacity is 37,000 and a fair share of the seats Friday belonged to Florida snowbirds disguised as miserable Mets fans hiding in plain sight along the third-base line. The Marlins took the win, took fourth place in the NL East, and pushed the Mets into last.

Two games left. Saturday at 4:10 p.m. ET, Sunday at 1:40. The team that loses this series finishes the weekend in fifth.

Saturday: Peralta vs. Meyer

The matchup of the series is Freddy Peralta, the 30-year-old Dominican right-hander, against Max Meyer, the 26-year-old American who has become Miami’s most reliable starter. Peralta is 3-3 with a 3.31 ERA across ten starts. He pitched for the Dominican Republic at the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Meyer is 4-0 with a 2.85 ERA after throwing six sharp innings in Monday’s 12-0 rout of the Atlanta Braves — the only game in the Atlanta series Miami won. Meyer has not lost a decision in 2026.

This is the kind of matchup the Marlins have not had to scratch and claw their way into all season. Meyer is the rotation’s only sure thing in a starting staff that has lost Robby Snelling to season-ending UCL surgery (announced Thursday), demoted Braxton Garrett to Triple-A Jacksonville (announced Wednesday after he was rocked in two consecutive starts), and watched Sandy Alcántara take three losses in his last four. The Marlins need Meyer to be Meyer.

Peralta against this Marlins lineup will be a different problem. Otto Lopez is hitting .346, Xavier Edwards .318, Liam Hicks .283 with 40 RBIs that still rank among the top numbers in the National League. The Mets’ bullpen — minus Clay Holmes, A.J. Minter, Tylor Megill, and Reed Garrett, all on the 60-day injured list — has been one of the leaguewide bottom tiers.

Sunday: Christian Scott vs. TBD (Likely Tyler Phillips)

The Mets will hand the ball Sunday to Christian Scott, a 27-year-old right-hander making his sixth start. He is 0-0 with a 4.12 ERA. Miami counters with Tyler Phillips, who has worked as a long reliever this month and has been stretched back out — two innings against Atlanta on Wednesday, two more innings of relief earlier in the homestand. With Robby Snelling lost to season-ending UCL surgery and Braxton Garrett demoted to Triple-A Jacksonville, Phillips is what the Marlins have left at the back of the rotation. He owns a 1.20 ERA across 15 innings in 2026, mostly out of the bullpen. Sunday is a real test — first time facing a major-league lineup as a starter this year.

The Mets You Came To See Are On The Injured List

This is the part that needs to be said. The Mets team that arrived at loanDepot park this weekend is not the Mets team Steve Cohen built. The 60-day injured list reads like a starting roster.

Francisco Lindor, the Puerto Rican shortstop and franchise face — 10-day IL. Lindor was almost a 2026 WBC participant for Puerto Rico but ultimately did not appear, and his absence from the team this weekend is the loudest in the Mets clubhouse. Francisco Alvarez, the Venezuelan catcher — 10-day IL. Jorge Polanco, the Dominican infielder — 10-day IL. Ronny Mauricio, the Dominican infielder — 10-day IL. Luis Robert Jr., the Cuban outfielder — 10-day IL. Jared Young, the Canadian first baseman — 10-day IL. Kodai Senga, the Japanese right-hander — 15-day IL. Clay Holmes — 60-day. A.J. Minter — 60-day. Tylor Megill — 60-day. Reed Garrett — 60-day.

That is a Puerto Rican, two Venezuelans, three Dominicans, a Cuban, a Canadian, and a Japanese starting pitcher on various stages of the injured list. The Mets’ international roster footprint is one of the deepest in baseball. Most of it is in the trainer’s room.

The Mets You Are Seeing

The roster the Marlins are actually facing this weekend still carries an international thread. Juan Soto, the 27-year-old Dominican right fielder, hit his tenth home run of the season Friday off Eury Pérez and remains hitting .301 with a .965 OPS. Soto played for the Dominican Republic at the 2026 World Baseball Classic, was the face of Team DR through the semifinal in this same ballpark, and at this point is the only consistent reason to buy a ticket to a Mets game in May.

Luis Torrens, the 30-year-old Venezuelan, has taken over primary catching duties in Alvarez’s absence. He is hitting .203. He caught Friday’s loss. He will likely catch one of the next two games.

Huascar Brazobán, the 36-year-old Dominican reliever, has appeared in 21 games this season for the Mets. He pitched for the Dominican Republic at the 2026 WBC.

Vidal Bruján, the Dominican utility infielder, came in late Friday and played shortstop for the Mets in the eighth and ninth.

Jonah Tong, the 23-year-old Canadian rookie right-hander, threw three scoreless innings of relief Friday and was the most impressive Mets pitcher in the building.

Daniel Duarte, the 29-year-old Mexican right-hander, is on the active roster and pitched for Team Mexico at the 2026 WBC.

And Then The Two WBC Stories Nobody Else Is Writing

Mark Vientos was born in Miami. He grew up in Florida. He plays for the New York Mets at first base and third base. At the 2026 World Baseball Classic he wore Nicaragua blue, playing for Dusty Baker’s first-ever Nicaragua roster, the country’s second-ever WBC appearance. Vientos went 2-for-15 across four games in Miami. His Mets line right now is .229 / .265 / .399. The Marlins will see him this weekend.

Bo Bichette was born in West Palm Beach. He grew up in St. Petersburg. He spent the first eight years of his major-league career with the Toronto Blue Jays. He signed a three-year, $126 million deal with the Mets in the offseason and moved to third base. Bichette announced in the fall that he would play for Team Brazil at the 2026 World Baseball Classic — his mother is Brazilian — but ultimately withdrew before the tournament to focus on spring training and the position change. The Bichette family was still represented in Miami this March: Bo’s older brother, Dante Bichette Jr., was on the Brazil roster. Friday night Bo was the last out of the ninth inning at loanDepot park, flying to center field with the tying run on first.

The Mets also have Marcus Semien, the 35-year-old American second baseman who has played every inning of every game this year and represented Team USA at the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Semien is hitting .222 and is the only American-born WBC contributor remaining in the Mets’ regular lineup.

The Marlins’ Side

Miami’s own international roster gets less attention because it is the Marlins. Eury Pérez (Dominican Republic) was Friday’s winner. Sandy Alcántara (Dominican Republic) is the staff veteran. Otto Lopez plays for Team Canada at the WBC despite being born in Panama. Liam Hicks is Canadian. Owen Caissie is Canadian and drove in both Friday’s runs. Esteury Ruiz (Dominican Republic) tripled in the fourth and scored the winning run. Heriberto Hernández is Dominican. Javier Sanoja is Venezuelan and hit his first career grand slam in Monday’s 12-0 win over Atlanta. Jakob Marsee is American-born but plays for Team Italy at the WBC. Eleven Marlins were on 2026 WBC rosters. The team across the dugout this weekend has eight WBC contributors of its own, plus another seven international names recovering on the injured list.

The lineup cards Saturday and Sunday will not look like the rosters either ownership group wanted in March. That is the nature of the season the two of them are sharing. The two clubs with the most international reach in this division are also the two clubs in this division’s basement.

How To Watch

• Saturday May 23 · 4:10 PM ET · Peralta vs. Meyer · Marlins.TV · SNY
• Sunday May 24 · 1:40 PM ET · Scott vs. Tyler Phillips (Probably!) · Marlins.TV · SNY
• Radio: WQAM 104.3 · WAQI 710 AM (Spanish) · WEPN 1050 AM (NY)
• Streaming: MLB.TV · Fubo

The Stakes

The team that wins this weekend climbs out of the basement and faces the New York Mets in Queens next weekend for three more in a row. The team that loses it spends Memorial Day in last place in the National League East.

Miami is not good. Neither is New York. The Marlins are also, historically, very good at upsetting the Florida snowbirds hiding in plain sight as miserable Mets fans. Sandy Alcántara is on the trade block. Juan Soto is the Mets’ lone reliable bat. Max Meyer is the Marlins’ only reliable starter. Freddy Peralta is one of New York’s few healthy ones. The clowns are warming up. Two games to settle which team’s clowns are funnier.

— MT