Castillo Can Cruise Through Marlins Lineup

Marlins vs. Mariners, 9:40 ET

Who was your favorite team to watch growing up? For those of you who are old like me and transitioned from the daily paper and box scores to now having everything at your fingertips, it is significantly easier to follow an out of market team. My home team was always the Cubs, but my American League team was always the Mariners. Seattle was one of the first stadiums that I went to as a kid. Ichiro, Griffey, Arod, all those guys were just awesome. Times have changed and now I really don't root for any team except the one I bet on and that's what we are doing here as the Marlins take on the Mariners.

The Marlins are surprisingly respectable so far this season. In other sports you know a team will be bad and they are going to tank all season. In baseball, it seems like a team can turnaround their luck in one season. Maybe a pitcher gets really hot and the rest of them get a bit of that mojo. Hitting seems to be contagious for teams and that could be the way a team carries themselves to an unlikely postseason appearance. I don't have any delusion that the Marlins will suddenly be good and make a postseason run - let's face it, if they even show signs of having good players, management will just trade them away. Still, it is early and them having double digit wins already is a nice building block. To further that record is Connor Gillispie who brings a 0-2 record, 6.75 ERA, and a 1.42 WHIP into today's game. His ERA really ballooned because he allowed eight runs to the Diamondbacks, and four to the Phillies in his last two outings. He has never faced a Mariners hitter. 

Apr 22, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Marlins center fielder Jesus Sanchez (7) bats against the Cincinnati Reds during the seventh inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

I was shocked at the Mariners last season. They were in the postseason hunt despite literally having the worst offense in baseball. No team struck out more and I don't think any team scored fewer runs. Maybe there were a couple that scored fewer, but they were definitely near or at the bottom. This season doesn't look all that much better as they are only hitting .229 for the year. They do have 113 runs, which is better than some teams, and they have 34 homers which is pretty high. However, the pitching staff is also not throwing as well as they did last year. So slight improvement for the offense, and a reduction in effectiveness from pitching basically leaves them in the same spot as last season. One pitcher who has struggled so far is tonight's starter, Luis Castillo. Castillo is a guy I've supported for a long time. He is 2-2 with a 4.44 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP. He can certainly pitch better than this. He has shown signs of it, but just one quality start this season is something he needs to improve on. Only Jesus Sanchez has faced him and Sanchez is 3-for-9 with two doubles. 

This should be a pretty good game overall. The Marlins offense might be better than the Mariners, but they need to string together hits in order to score. The Mariners look like they will be home run dependent to score. I think that both pitchers might have some luck here, but I like Castillo at home to help the Mariners. I'm backing the run line through five with the Mariners in this one. 

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