Marlins ace and NL Cy Young candidate Jose Fernandez had been scheduled to start against the Braves on Sunday on regular rest. However, as ESPN's Adam Rubin notes, the Marlins will push back Fernandez so that he can face the Mets on Monday in the opener of a three-game series.
The Marlins at this writing are five games back of the second NL wild-card berth. While their odds are long, they're still alive. Bumping Fernandez back a day allows them to take their best shot at one of the teams ahead of them in that wild-card queue.
That, of course, would be the Mets. The Mets right now are in the top wild-card spot, but they're ahead of the Giants and Cardinals by only one game. That is to say, their spot is far from secure, especially with their rotation in tatters at the moment.
As for Fernandez, this season he's pitched to a 2.86 ERA (136 ERA+) in 182 1/3 innings, and over that span he's racked up an impressive 253 strikeouts. Against the Mets season, he's put an ERA of 1.08 in four starts. The Mets have benefited from a generally soft stretch-drive schedule, but Monday's appointment in Miami just got a lot tougher.
