If there’s one thing that will define the 2026 MLB season, it’s streaks, of the celebratory kind and the dubious variety. In the span of a month, the Miami Marlins have found themselves in both categories, their most recent being a franchise-record 12 losses in a row.Miami’s 12th straight loss was a 5-3 defeat to the San Diego Padres on Sunday, a game in which the Marlins led 3-1 through seven innings before reliever Lake Bachar coughed up four runs on five hits. This is the worst stretch in the franchise’s 33-year history.It started on July 10 with a 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians before the All-Star break, picked up post-break and has reared its head through bobblehead giveaways and in-stadium happy hours. In the span of 15 days, the Marlins have gone from 10 games above .500 and tied for the National League’s second wild-card spot to two games under .500 and out of the postseason picture.This after the Marlins went 20-6 in June, just the second 20-win month in franchise history. The club also became the first MLB team to reach 20 wins in a month this season. Their plus-53 run differential over that stretch was the best in franchise history, and for the first time since 2023, Miami was six games over .500.At the time, Miami was on pace for an 89-win season, which would’ve been the franchise’s best tally since 2003, when the Marlins added their second World Series championship in a six-game set over the New York Yankees.“Calendar is going to change, and it’s nothing different,” catcher Joe Mack told reporters then. “You’re at where you’re at, you’re at where your feet are. Taking that into next month is going to be very important. Obviously, we had a great June, but the month’s over, so we’ve just got to go into next month and just go dominate there.”How many players will the Mets trade by the deadline?Ken Rosenthal and Johnny SweetDominate, the Marlins have not.The 12-game losing streak is tied with the New York Mets for the longest such streak in baseball this season.And yet, because of that 20-6 June and an overall 26-8 stretch from June 1 through July 9, the Marlins remain in contention for a postseason spot. Before the end of play on Sunday, Miami sat three games out of the NL’s third and final wild-card spot.“We’re going to meet this head on,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said Sunday. “I mean, look, there’s no hiding from it. It’s what it is. Does anybody feel good? Certainly not. But to come in here each day and cry about it, make excuses, I don’t know what that’s going to do. I think we have a very prideful group that is certainly upset, frustrated, angry about how things are going, but we’re the only ones that can change that.”Previously, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported that, “barring an utter collapse,” the Marlins intended to keep former NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara and add “strategically” to the big-league roster. That, however, was on July 10, the beginning of the Marlins’ rough stretch.Should Miami elect to sell at the deadline, it would have no shortage of chips available to deal, including Alcantara, who has a $21 million club option on the five-year deal he signed in 2021.The club, which is deep in pitching, could also choose to deal Max Meyer, a first-time All-Star with a 2.68 ERA in 20 starts this season, or Eury Pérez, who has a 3.56 ERA and recently took a perfect game into the seventh inning. Meyer’s presence on the 15-day IL with a neck strain could complicate things.Catcher Liam Hicks could also profile as an attractive piece, particularly as the catching market is thin. A torn meniscus in the right knee of Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers has thinned an already depleted catching market, making Hicks, as well as Hunter Goodman (Colorado Rockies), Ryan Jeffers (Minnesota Twins) and Tyler Stephenson (Cincinnati Reds) targets for clubs in need of a backstop.In a particularly cruel twist of fate, the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, are currently mired in their own 12-game losing streak.Both clubs will have a chance to end their misery soon. The Marlins play host to the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday, and a day later the Jumbo Shrimp play against the Memphis Redbirds (St. Louis Cardinals affiliate).