Alcantara Already Wrote This One

Sandy Alcantara passed Ricky Nolasco on Sunday to become the Marlins' all-time innings leader, surpassing 1,225⅔ innings in a 7-0 win over the Angels. It happened in the third inning, quietly, the way most of Alcantara's work gets done. Nolasco spent eight years accumulating that total. Alcantara got there faster, which tells you something about the kind of workhorse he is.

The timing has a little extra weight this season. Miami has been pitching through a rotation that's been picked apart all year — four arms on the 60-day IL, Max Meyer just now moving back toward the 15-day — and Alcantara has been the one constant. He's 14-6 with a 3.54 ERA through 28 starts, and the staff as a whole has allowed just 3.0 runs per game over the last 10 games. That's not a coincidence. When the depth thins, the innings leader earns his title the hard way.

Nolasco was a solid Marlins starter for a long time, and the record he held was legitimate. Alcantara breaking it at 30, still mid-career, still on a contending roster, is a different kind of marker. Miami is two games out of the last wild card with 42 to play. The franchise innings leader is their ace. That's a reasonable place to be.