Miami Marlins Aces Twirl Gems to Start Season, Join Team Record Books
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The Miami Marlins are looking to build on the bounceback success they had in the 2025 campaign after losing 100 games in 2024 and so far, they're off to a great start. On the back of their pitching staff, they have been able to take the first two games of the season against the Colorado Rockies.
The Marlins didn't make any notable additions to the team, aside form Peter Fairbanks, in the offseason. The biggest new name is outfielder Owen Caissie, who came over in the trade that sent Edward Cabrera to the Chicago Cubs. Instead, Peter Bendix and Clayton McCullough will rely on their young stars Jakob Marsee and Kyle Stowers to continue their success.
No matter what, though, Miami will have its pitching to fall back on. They have exciting young arms in Robby Snelling and Thomas White in the minors as well as breakout candidates in Eury Pérez and Max Meyer to pitch behind longtime ace Sandy Alcantara.
That pitching has shown off to open the season as Alacantara and Pérez's outings vaulted them into Marlins' record books.
Alcantara and Pérez's Gems
Alcantara earned his team record sixth Opening Day start on Friday and took full advantage of it. In a tight 2-1 win, the former Cy Young winner tossed seven innings, allowing one unearned run on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
Pérez followed that up with a brilliant start of his own, going seven innings and allowing three runs on five hits while striking out eight batters.
According to Marlins Communication, Alcantara and Pérez became the fourth duo of Marlins' starters to open the season with back-to-back outings of at least seven innings and are the first since Josh Beckett and Brad Penny in 2004.
Since his dominant 2022, Alcantara has not been the same pitcher. He struggled in 2023 before undergoing Tommy John surgery and missing all of 2024. When he returned last season, he still didn't look the same. In 174.2 innings, Alcantara posted a 1.271 WHIP and 5.36 ERA.
After a rough start in the World Baseball Classic where he only went three innings and allowed three runs, the two time All-Star looks to bounce back and has gotten off on the right foot.
As for Pérez, it's been a bit of a different story. He was a highly touted prospect will all the stuff in the world. He burst onto the scene in 2023 as a 20-year-old, posting 2.7 bWAR and a 3.15 ERA in 19 starts, finishing seventh in Rookie of the Year voting.
Eury Pérez, 100mph ⛽️🦒 pic.twitter.com/fWo9ptgSzK
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 28, 2026
He, too, needed Tommy John surgery in 2024 and returned in 2025. While he had more success than his rotation mate, it wasn't where Pérez wanted to be. With a 4.25 ERA and 9.9 K/9, his strikeouts were a little down.
Still only 22 years old, Pérez could be in for a huge breakout in 2026.
