On Deck: Marlins

On Deck will be here all season to provide you with everything you need to know (and a few things you don't) about every Rangers series during the 2014 season. 

The Opponent: The young Marlins are still in the NL Wild Card hunt, while the Rangers have nothing but pride to play for.

Past 2014 Meetings: The teams split a two-game set in Arlington back in June, which included Yu Darvish's only complete-game shutout of his career.

Pitching Matchups: Tuesday โ€” Miles Mikolas (1-5, 7.71 ERA) vs. Jarred Cosart (1-1, 2.92); Wednesday โ€” Nick Martinez (2-9, 5.27) vs. Nathan Eovaldi (6-7, 3.96).

What's Hot: The Rangers have waited for Leonys Martin to show the promise they thought they had in the Cuban outfielder when they signed him as an international free agent, and over the last week he's shown it. In the last seven games, Martin is batting .417 with a double and only has five strikeouts compared to his two walks. Hey, it's a step. The entire Rangers bullpen has been outstanding, giving up just one earned run in the last 21 2/3 innings.

Young outfielder Christian Yelich, one of the Marlins' top young prospects, is showing his mettle at the moment, hitting .464 in his last seven games. One of the game's premier sluggers, Giancarlo Stanton, is hot, too. He's hitting .391 with three homers and nine RBIs in his last seven games. Cosart is on fire since arriving to Miami at the trade deadline. In his last outing, he pitched seven shutout frames while allowing just three hits.

What's Not: Both of the Rangers starters โ€” Mikolas and Martinez โ€” are coming off bad outings, but specifically the up-and-down Mikolas, who allowed 10 earned runs in six innings his last time out. Outfielder Alex Rios is further sealing his fate with the club option next season, as he's hitting just .095 in his last six games.

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Marlins closer Steve Cishek is 2-for-2 on save opportunities over the last week, but they haven't come easily. In those two games, he has allowed two runs. Another of the Marlins' young promising outfielders, Marcell Ozuna, is hitting just .182 in the last seven games.

Familiar Faces: Just last month, the Rangers battered Cosart when he was pitching for Houston, but of course, the Rangers lost the game because their pitcher got battered harder. The Rangers knocked Cosart for nine hits and six runs in five innings. Marlins catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia was the key piece of the famed Mark Teixeira trade to Atlanta, which of course also netted Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison and Elvis Andrus.

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