Looking At The Florida Marlins
In Major League Baseball teams can qualify for the playoffs even if they do not win their division. Teams who accomplish this are called wildcards. One big disadvantage for a wildcard team is that they will never have homefield advantage in any of their league’s playoff series. The Florida Marlins have twice qualified for the playoffs in their history. Both times they were a wildcard, and both times they walked away with a World Series championship. With this as a background, let’s explore some Marlin history.
The Marlins entered the National League in 1993 as an expansion team. They play their games in Miami, Florida. From their inception they have played at Sun Life Stadium (formerly named Dolphin Stadium, one of many former names for the stadium.) Starting in 2012 the team is planning to play in a new park, the former site of the Orange Bowl.
The 1993-1996 seasons were not exactly kind to “the Fish”. Starting in 1993 the team finished last in the division, dropping 98 games. Interestingly though, over the course of the next three seasons the team progressively climbed the standings. They went from sixth to fifth to fourth to third. 1996 saw the team fall just two games below . 500. So it was no surprise that Marlin fans became enthusiastic about the team’s steady improvement and future prospects.
From 1993 to 1996 things were bleak for the franchise. They finished their debut season in last place, losing 98 games. It is worth noting, though, that over the next few years, they got progressively better. They crept to 5th, then 4th, then 3rd. By 1996 they ended up only two games below . 500. This gave fans good reason to be hopeful about their team.
The Fish came into that series as sizeable underdogs. Cleveland had just polished off the New York Yankees in quite an impressive fashion. This Indian series would be a good one, going all seven games. Losing in the ninth, they were able to tie it up and send it into extra innings. They proceeded to win in the eleventh.
Looking ahead to 2003, we see them again coming in second to Atlanta. Again they were the wildcard. And again, they defeated the Giants in the first round. This time, they would be facing the Chicago Cubs in round 2. It did not look good for Florida, as they were trailing in the eighth inning of the sixth, and possibly last, game of the series. In a mind blowing turn of events, a Cub fan interfered with a Cub player who was attempting to make a catch for the third out. This breathed new life into the Marlin team, who went on to win that game and the next.
Now, we said that Florida was an underdog in 1997. To say they were underdogs in 2003 would be an understatement. Up against the New York Yankees, nobody gave them the slightest chance of winning. The Yanks had just had an amazing and tiring series against the Boston Red Sox. Maybe that is what caused them to come out a bit flat. Whatever the reason, the Marlin pitching was right on target and the Fish took another championship.
Lately the Florida Marlins have been finishing near the middle of the standings. The team’s payroll has been consistently one of the lowest of the league, which has contributed in no small measure to their present results.
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