Marlins lose regular-season finale but learn destination for wild card round of playoffs

The playoff-bound Miami Marlins’ regular season came to an end Sunday with a 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday at PNC Park.

Next stop: Philadelphia, where the Marlins will face the Phillies in the best-of-3 wild card round starting Tuesday. Miami clinched its spot in the playoffs for the first time in a full season since winning the 2003 World Series on Saturday.

With the Arizona Diamondbacks losing 8-1 to the Houston Astros on Sunday, Miami clinched the National League’s second wild card spot to set up the matchup with Philadelphia, who are in the NL’s top wild card spot.

The Diamondbacks will face the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers in the other NL wild card series. The Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers, who respectively won the NL East and NL West, have first-round byes.

The Marlins went 7-6 against the Phillies in the regular season, including 4-2 in Philadelphia.

The Pirates scored all three of their runs Sunday in the eighth inning against Bryan Hoeing.

The Marlins rested many of their top players — including center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr., first baseman Josh Bell, second baseman Luis Arraez, third baseman Jake Burger and designated hitter Jorge Soler — for the regular-season finale. Miami’s lineup, as a result, was held to just three hits on Sunday.

Left-handed pitcher Ryan Weathers, acquired at the trade deadline from the San Diego Padres in exchange for Garrett Cooper and pitcher prospect Sean Reynolds, pitched six shutout innings with five strikeouts while allowing just two hits and three walks. Huascar Brazoban then threw a scoreless seventh inning before the Pirates struck for their three runs in the eighth inning.

Arraez makes history

Arraez on Sunday became the first player in MLB history to win a batting title in consecutive seasons in different leagues. He won the American League batting title in 2022 while playing with the Minnesota Twins before being traded to the Marlins in the offseason in exchange for right-handed pitcher Pablo Lopez and two prospects.

Arraez finished the season with a .354 batting average, well ahead of runner-up Ronald Acuna Jr. in the National League.

Two others have won a batting title in both leagues but they weren’t in consecutive years. DJ LeMahieu was a batting champion in the National League in 2016 and the American League in 2020, while Ed Delahanty won the NL title in 1899 and the AL title in 1902.

“It means a lot,” Arraez, who last started on Sept. 23 while dealing with a left ankle injury, said Sunday. “I worked hard for this. I worked hard to help my team win. This is amazing.”

Arraez is the first player to finish a season with a batting average above .350 in a full season (excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season) since Josh Hamilton in 2010 (.359) with the Texas Rangers and the first in the National League since Chipper Jones (.364) with the Atlanta Braves and Albert Pujols (.357) with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2008.

He is the third player in Marlins history to win a National League batting title. The others: Dee Strange Gordon in 2015 and Hanley Ramirez in 2009.