5 things to watch for during Marlins’ final push

MIAMI — Until they are officially out of it, the Marlins are pushing forward and hoping they can get some help in their quest to reach the postseason. The odds aren’t in their favor, but the fact that they still have hope marks improvement over the past few years, when they were already eliminated at this time.

After taking two of three at Atlanta, Miami entered Thursday’s off-day four games behind the Mets for the second National League Wild Card spot. From an organizational standpoint, playing meaningful games down the stretch is a way for the Marlins to see what the team is made up of right now, and which players will be part of the plans in 2017.

“This is definitely the best time to evaluate,” manager Don Mattingly said. “[See] who’s who — who is going to play in this situation? This is really where you want to be in. You want to be in situations where you actually feel like you have to win every day.”

With 16 games remaining, here are five things to pay attention to as the regular season winds down.

1. Jose Fernandez’s innings All along, the plan was to keep Fernandez around 180 innings, but also have him in position to pitch into the playoffs. The two-time All-Star is 15-8 with a 2.99 ERA and 241 strikeouts. He’s at 174 1/3 …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com