The Miami Marlins have little to play for, yet, they can't seem to get out of the spotlight. At 64-72, Miami is safely out of postseason contention, but the Marlins remain as pesky as ever. They're eyeing a series win against a New York Mets team trying to establish itself as a team ready to win in October, and might even be in the Mets' heads.
The benches and bullpens cleared after Sandy Alcántara hit Mark Vientos pic.twitter.com/A9JXpeFII3
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 31, 2025
What looked like an innocent hit-by-pitch when it first happened turned out to be a benches-clearing incident. Sandy Alcantara hit Mark Vientos with a pitch in the seventh inning of a game the Marlins have had control of since the jump, and both the pitcher and hitter were unhappy.
No, Alcantara did not hit Vientos on purpose. The Marlins were in control of the game, and Alcantara was in the midst of one of his best starts of the season. Vientos was likely upset because it's never fun to get hit by a 90 mph pitch, and Alcantara made it clear that there was no intent behind it.
Intent or not, though, it's getting hard to ignore the fact that the Marlins seem to find their way in the middle of drama constantly.
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Marlins can't escape benches-clearing drama incidents
Just days ago, the Marlins found themselves involved in drama with the Atlanta Braves. Pitcher Ryan Gusto hit Ronald Acuña Jr. with a pitch, causing Acuña to take a couple of steps toward the mound and shout in Gusto's direction. There was obviously no intent from Gusto, but considering the franchise's history when it comes to hitting Acuña with pitches, it's somewhat understandable that Acuña would be frustrated.
This obviously isn't the case, but it certainly feels as if a majority of the times that the benches clear, the Marlins are involved. A lot of this has to do with their pitching staff's inability to control pitches. It's worth noting that the Marlins are currently tied for seventh in hit by pitches, and they've hit the fourth-most batters since 2020 per FanGraphs. When you hit that many batters, drama is bound to unfold at some point.
While the Marlins obviously need to locate better, this drama has everything to do with frustration setting in for the Mets.
Mets are to blame for causing benches-clearing drama
The Mets swept the Phillies earlier this week, cutting their NL East deficit to 4.0 games and looking like the World Series-caliber team many expected them to be for the first time in months. Fittingly, they'd take on the pesky Marlins next and immediately lose two of the first three games of the series. In the series finale, they seemed poised for another loss thanks largely to Alcantara's dominance.
Going from sweeping the Phillies to losing a series against the lowly Marlins is frustrating for a Mets team that's struggled to find any sort of consistency for months now, and things boiled over when Vientos got hit. Alcantara did nothing wrong. There was no intent.
The Marlins should stop hitting people, but the Mets should simply play better. I feel confident when saying that nothing would've happened if the Mets had taken care of business and not taken these awful losses. The Marlins were clearly in their heads, and that isn't great.