The Marlins may be out of the playoff picture, but they’re still giving the Mets something worth watching closely. Miami has started using a pitching wrinkle that looks a lot less like a gimmick and a lot more like a live test case, and New York could have reason to pay attention as it thinks about 2027.
This isn’t a six-man rotation, and it isn’t piggybacking, either. It’s not the opener model that shows up here and there when a team wants to shield a starter from the top of the order. Miami’s idea is simpler than all of that: take the side work a starter would normally do between outings and move it into actual game action.
That’s how Sandy Alcantara, a long-time Mets trade target, wound up in the record books. He became the first pitcher since saves became an official stat in 1969 to alternate between five-plus-inning starts and saves over four consecutive outings. Eury Pérez has gotten the same treatment, and the early results have been positive there too.
In the past week, the Marlins have deployed both Sandy Alcantara and Eury Pérez out of the bullpen in game action.
Are in-game side sessions a glimpse into the future? #MLBTonight pic.twitter.com/YCbMxD0rmt
- MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) September 23, 2026
What Miami is really doing is turning those 30 or so pitches a starter usually throws between starts into something that counts. The pitcher still gets the work, but now it comes in a setting that can help the team in the standings instead of behind the scenes.
There are obvious drawbacks. A bullpen session lets a pitcher get through the exact amount of work he needs without having to worry about hitters or game situations.
In a real game, he might get pulled before reaching that point. A matchup might also force the manager to go a different direction, such as bringing in a lefty specialist.
And those side sessions aren’t just about volume. They’re also a place to refine a mechanical change, sharpen a secondary pitch, or build a new one. Mariano Rivera, for example, found the cutter that became the backbone of his career in a bullpen session.
Still, the upside is hard to ignore. If New York adopted something like this, it could essentially create an extra reliever without actually adding one to the roster. Over a 162-game season, that kind of edge matters.
There’s also a simple baseball argument for it. A lot of relievers are starters who didn’t quite make the leap - maybe their stuff wasn’t deep enough, or maybe the command wasn’t there. By that logic, a starter should have no trouble handling work out of the bullpen in this kind of setup.
Best of all, the risk is small. The Mets wouldn’t need to overhaul their pitching staff or force anyone into a new role full time.
They’d just be asking starters to turn a routine side session into something more useful. If it doesn’t help, they can go right back to the usual bullpen work.
If it does, it could become a real advantage for 2027.
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