The Royals resume the second half with a road series in Miami. At the beginning of the year, you probably circled this as a series the Royals should easily win or even sweep. The perpetually stingy Marlins ownership fielded a team with a $68.5 million Opening Day payroll, lowest in baseball. They have the youngest lineup in baseball, and the third-youngest pitching staff.
And yet, the Marlins aren’t looking too bad as we head into this July series. They had a rough start to the season, but have won 21 of their last 34, the second-best record in the National League over that time, surging past the mighty Braves in the standings.