MLB Baseball BETTING PREVIEW - Miami Marlins @ Washington Nationals

MLB Baseball

2026-08-28 - Miami Marlins at Washington Nationals

A Sports Betting Preview by FirstDown

Miami Marlins @ Washington Nationals
United States : Major League Baseball
Friday 28th August 2026 - Scheduled 6:45pm EST
11:45pm (British Time)

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Preview

The positive with around a month left of the regular season is that the Miami Marlins (68-66) have a winning record.

The negative is that they play in the National League East and that means they are still 11 games out of the Divisional lead and have a 4 game gap to make up to the Wild Card spots. If the Marlins were playing in the American League, they would share the same record as the team in the third Wild Card spot, but Miami cannot worry about that and instead have to focus on finishing up as consistently as possible and see how that affects the standings.

They begin this very important four game set with the Washington Nationals (63-73) on Friday and Miami will be demanding at least three wins. That is easier to expect from themselves when noting they have won the last eight games against this National League East rival and swept them at home last week.

Miami also swept a road series in this ballpark in June and they will hand the ball to Eury Perez who is looking like he may get to the kind of level he was producing in his rookie season. Tommy John surgery meant missing the entirety of what what have been his second season, but two years on, Eury Perez has a 7-9 record, but a 3.17 ERA in twenty-three starts.

The rookie season saw Perez throw in nineteen starts and he had a 3.15 ERA and so the performances in 2026 will give Miami a huge amount of encouragement. August opened with Eury Perez allowing four runs in 5 Innings and he had to take the decision loss, but the pitcher has not allowed that to distract him and the bounce back has seen him put together a 2-0 record and 0.50 ERA in his last three starts.

Eury Perez allowed one earned run in 5 Innings thrown against the Washington Nationals last week and he will be looking to give his team the same kind of platform to have success.

The Nationals will counter with rookie Jackson Kent and it has been made clear that they will give the pitcher as much time as possible on the mound. This is just the fourth start of the season and Jackson Kent has a 0-2 record and 8.03 ERA, although his last was the longest when one out away from recording 5 completed Innings in a single game.

It was a start against the Miami Marlins, but Kent still allowed three runs, which means that has been the minumum allowed in each start this season. Walks have been making things that much more difficult for the rookie, but Washington will be hoping the experience of seeing this Marlins batting lineup could help Jackson Kent put an improved outing on the board.

Prediction

The top teams in the National League are making it very difficult for those chasing Wild Card spots and the Miami Marlins need a big weekend in their bid to try and close the gap.

They have dominated the Washington Nationals all season and Miami look to have the edge on the mound in the opener of this four game set.

Eury Perez has looked very confident, while rookie Jackson Kent is learning on the job and the Miami Marlins can earn a ninth straight victory over this National League East rival.

The Pick :

Washington Nationals 2-5 Miami Marlins

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Miami Marlins to Win at -145 with EveryGame Sports