BOSTON -- Forty games remain in the 2025 season and the Marlins’ Day 1 objective remains the same: Develop their young roster and see how guys fit in moving forward.
“We came into this season understanding that we were going to be able to provide a lot of opportunity for both position players and pitchers to get reps at the Major League level, and for them to understand what it's going to take to be successful here, and be able to continue to evaluate that,” manager Clayton McCullough said.
Whether it’s Jakob Marsee in center field or lefty Josh Simpson in high-leverage situations, Miami wants to learn what it has with these rookies. The long-term picture is more important than the short-term outcome.
The Marlins’ 2-1 walk-off loss to the Red Sox on Friday night at Fenway Park serves as the perfect example of this concept, making the tough defeat a bit easier to swallow. Miami has dropped nine of its last 12 games, falling to six games back of the final National League Wild Card spot and 12 behind Philadelphia in the NL East. The Marlins entered the series opener with 0.4 percent odds of reaching the postseason, per FanGraphs.
With the game tied at 1 in the ninth, McCullough turned to Simpson to face the top of the Red Sox's order: Roman Anthony (lefty), Alex Bregman (righty) and Jarren Duran (lefty). Simpson would do so in front of a sellout crowd of 36,854 fans at one of the most historic venues in sports.
Simpson, who turns 28 on Tuesday, was making just his 18th big league appearance. It marked the eighth time he was pitching in a game decided by three or fewer runs, and his first in the ninth with the team either tied or ahead.
“I think I felt good going into it, maybe just trying to do a little too much,” Simpson said. “Those are the guys I want to face. Got the lefty pocket there. It's not my best. I've got to be better, and I will be better.”
Miami did have flamethrower Ronny Henriquez warming up before, but he was getting ready to take the mound if the club had the lead going into the ninth. Being on the road, McCullough decided to piece together the frame in a different way.
Though Simpson got ahead of Anthony with a sinker, he was unable to find the plate with his next four pitches and opened the frame with a walk. Simpson also issued a free pass to Bregman on five pitches before hitting Duran with a curveball to load the bases.
Having faced the minimum, Simpson gave way to righty Calvin Faucher. With the infield drawn in, Trevor Story singled past second baseman Xavier Edwards for the walk-off winner.
Now comes the next challenge for Simpson: learning how to flush the result as quickly as possible.
“It's tough,” Simpson said. “Obviously, it's not how I wanted it to go. We want to go out there and win every game. I think just trying to have a short memory. Obviously, it sucks right now, but [I’ve] got to come back tomorrow. We’ve got a game to win tomorrow, so be ready to go tomorrow.”
The Marlins are invested in seeing Simpson bounce back. After they optioned Cade Gibson to Triple-A Jacksonville on Aug. 8, their active roster features just one southpaw in the bullpen: Simpson.
Andrew Nardi, who continues to try working back from back issues, is the organization’s other lefty reliever with big league experience. Dale Stanavich, who has yet to make his Major League debut and isn’t ranked among Miami’s Top 30 prospects, is the only southpaw reliever on Triple-A Jacksonville’s roster.
The NL East features several lefty sluggers, so Miami needs to see what arms like Simpson can do in pivotal situations. It’s tough to neutralize those bats with an all-righty bullpen.
“Like Josh a lot and believe Josh is going to be a key piece for us, and his ability to get out left is going to be a big part of that,” McCullough said. “And also throwing strikes, especially late in games, out of the ‘pen is a critical thing, which Josh knows, and he's aware of that. And tonight he just didn't have much feel for his pitches, and, unfortunately, had trouble finding the strike zone.
“I think we'll look back on this one, and it'll be a good moment for Josh. While it stings for him right now and for us, this is part of it. Still have a lot of confidence that Josh is going to be someone that will take down high-leverage outs versus left for us. And tonight just was not good from a strike-throwing perspective.”