The Miami Marlins are in the midst of a tight National League playoff race as the calendar flips to September. The Marlins are three games out of a playoff spot with 30 games left to play so there is little margin for error the rest of the season. Their schedule won’t do them any favors either, as five of their nine remaining series are against teams currently in a playoff spot.

The Marlins have been built on their pitching staff for several years. That hasn’t changed this season, though the staff's numbers are not as good as they've been in recent years. Marlins starters rank 13th in ERA with Miami as a whole rank 17th. With the way Miami's offense has swung the bat this year, it's a shock they're in the position they are in.

The Marlins have only made the playoffs three times since becoming a franchise in 1993, the last time being in 2020. Their other two postseason trips ended with World Series titles, but Marlins fans surely want to see their team consistently playing in October.

Miami has its work cut out if it's going to make a push to the playoffs in September. With three teams standing between them and a playoff spot, the Marlins have no time to be complacent. Getting this part of their game right will help them get into the postseason.

Miami struggles with RISP

In order to win in the MLB you have to be able to consistently score runs. A lot of what goes into doing that is being good at situational hitting, particularly when there are runners in scoring position (second and/or third base). If a team has trouble capitalizing with runners on base, there's a long road to a potential postseason berth.

The Marlins have put themselves in a bind with their lack of execution with runners in scoring position in 2023. Miami has a .245 batting average this season with runners in scoring position, 23rd among 30 MLB teams. Its 380 runs scored with RISP ranks 26th in the league. The Marlins have just three players with more than 50 RBIs, ranking 28th as a team in the statistic.

Leaving players on base is never a recipe for success and it's much more frustrating when a team has playoff hopes hanging in the balance. The Marlins as a whole offensively have been unable to score runs all season. Miami ranks last in the National League in runs scored and has the worst run differential of any team currently at or above .500.

Lack of long ball hurting Marlins

A corresponding factor in why the Marlins are not driving in runs is their lack of power. The Marlins have the third-fewest home runs in the MLB this season despite their leader, Jorge Soler, ranking fifth in the National League with 35. The next closest Miami player has 16 with only two others hitting more than 10.

With no imminent power threat other than Soler, teams can pitch a little more freely to the Marlins lineup knowing they likely won’t get hurt with the long ball. That plays a significant factor in the way Miami has to approach each game, understanding that it can't rely on a home run to bail itself out at any given moment.

Only 47 of Miami's 127 home runs hit this season were with men on base. That's also been a struggle for the Marlins, with the team ranking 21st in team on-base percentage despite having the sixth-best batting average in the league.

The Marlins at one point this season seemed destined for a playoff berth. With a month left in the season, that is anything but a foregone conclusion. Peaking at the right time can turn an alright team into a powerhouse that no one wants to face. If there's ever a time for the Marlins to peak, it's September.

Miami still has every chance in the world to make the postseason, but if it can't improve with runners in scoring position, its playoff hopes will be out the window sooner rather than later. Diehard Marlins fans deserve to see their team in the playoffs, something that hasn’t happened often in the franchise's 30-year history. All that can be changed with an offensive resurgence and some timely hitting.