Marlins Face Busy Month of May Against Divisional Opponents
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After a favorable late March and early April schedule for the Miami Marlins to begin the 2026 season, the month of May offers a home feel for second-year manager Clayton McCullough and his team. The Marlins will play 17 of their 29 games in the month at home, with iall of them coming in two homestands: a 10-game homestand at the beginning ofthe month and a seven-game homestand.
Marlins Get a Heavy Dose of NL East Division Opponents in May
Of the 19 games in May, 18 will be against National League East Division opponents. First up with four games will be the Philadelphia Phillies, who will have a different look in 2026. They have Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto back, but gone is left-handed pitcher Ranger Suarez, who signed with the Boston Red Sox in free agency last week.
After the Baltimore Orioles come in, the Washington Nationals will visit South Florida for three games. What the Nationals will look like in early May is one of the bigger questions, as left-handed pitcher MacKenzie Gore has not been moved, but he has generated a lot of interest from contenders. Washington, like Miami, has a lot of promising young talent across their lineup, but Miami feels like a team that is further ahead in terms of competing and winning sooner rather than later.
Miami will have a six-game road trip against the Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays before welcoming the Atlanta Braves to kick off a seven-game NL East homestand. The Braves are one of the more interesting teams this winter. They were linked to some free agents, but never struck it big and landed one. Instead, they went for lesser free agent pickups to compete in 2026.
The team with the biggest new-look for 2026 is the New York Mets, who will visit to close out the home schedule for May over Memorial Day Weekend. Last week, they signed Bo Bichette to a three-year contract, but had some notable subtractions with closer Edwin Diaz leaving for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pete Alonso bolting for the Orioles.
That was the biggest offseason surprise departure for the Mets. Not so much that he left, but where he landed in Baltimore. Miami will close out the month with three games in New York against the Mets.
If Miami is going to hang around with the top teams in the division by the end of May, they will have a big opportunity in front of them on the field against the other four teams. It feels like this will be a key part of the schedule where the Marlins will need to take care of business on the field.
