BISCUITS OPENER: Playoff streak in jeopardy as Montgomery begins key home series

Santiago Suarez and the Biscuits’ pitching staff have struggled with consistency this season due to a team earned run average near five runs per game. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

There are just five baseball series remaining in the 2026 Southern League season and the Montgomery Biscuits need a late-season push to earn a berth in the division playoffs.

The Biscuits lost seven of their final 10 games in the first half of the season, falling out of first place and ending up in third. Montgomery then won just one of its first five games in the second half, digging itself a hole from which it has not recovered.

The Biscuits are currently in last place in the Southern League South Division with 30 games remaining, beginning with a six-game home stand with Chattanooga starting tonight. Montgomery currently owns a 10-year playoff streak that is the longest in the history of the Southern League.

“Our lineup is quality right now,” Montgomery manager Kevin Boles said. “We’ve got a lot of guys in the lineup that are pretty interesting. Defensively, we’re taking care of the baseball. We’ve done a really nice job with range in the outfield. Our infield play has been really solid.

“The one thing that is behind is the pitching. It’s gotten a lot better (in late July) but when the numbers say the starters are at 5.2 earned run average and the relievers are 5.6, that’s a lot of runs to ask the offense to score. If we can get those numbers down, we’re going to go as far as our pitching will take us.”

The team’s hitting has been at a torrid pace the last three series, scoring 168 runs -- an average of 8.8 runs per game -- in 19 games and scoring at least six runs in all but three games. Those three losses are the difference between being in first place and being in last place in the division.   

Montgomery ranks first in the Southern League in hits (937), home runs (151), stolen bases (256) and team batting average (.260). In the last month, those numbers are even more impressive. The Biscuits have 255 hits, 66 ahead of second-place Biloxi; 42 home runs, which is second in the league in that stretch; 77 stolen bases, far ahead of Pensacola’s second-place 42; and a .318 batting average, well ahead of Biloxi’s .251. 

The problem, as Boles noted, is on the mound. The Biscuits are fifth in the eight-team league in earned run average (4.91), fourth in saves (28), seventh in hits allowed (874), fourth in runs allowed (547) and sixth in home runs allowed (150).

“Our pitching is talented, we just haven’t executed this year,” Boles said. “We’ve made some moves up to Triple-A but now it’s time for this pitching staff (to produce). We’ve had games where we’ve had the lead and we brought in the bullpen and we haven’t gotten it done. It’s been a mixed bag. Starters have been going a little bit long.”

Pitching is supposed to be the Biscuits’ strength. Among the Rays’ top 30 minor-league prospects, five are pitchers that have pitched for the Biscuits this year -- Santiago Suarez, TJ Nichols, Gary Gill Hill (who was recently traded to the Mets), Jackson Baumeister and Michael Forret, who was promoted to Triple-A Durham earlier this season.

No other team in the Southern League had five of its best pitching prospects on the same Double-A team. In fact, South Division rivals Biloxi, Columbus and Pensacola combine to have just one pitcher among their top 30 prospects.  

“It’s been consistency in the zone,” Boles said. “When we miss, that’s another thing. If we’re going to miss, we’ve got to miss somewhere close to the zone. It can’t be a non-competitive pitch when we miss. The hitters expand in this league. If you can throw it anywhere near the zone, chances are you’re going to get a swing out of it.”

The Biscuits are atop the Southern League in fewest walks allowed (346) and strikeouts (877), but need consistency from its pitching staff if it plans to make the playoffs. Only Suarez is among the league leaders, ranking fourth in the league with a 4.73 ERA in 97 innings.

After this week’s series with Chattanooga, the Biscuits close out the 2026 season at Columbus, at home against Pensacola, at Rocket City and at home against Columbus.