The Marlins were not supposed to be a story this year. They are now.
Miami beat the Pirates 8-3 on Friday night to push its winning streak to seven games. The Fish are now 9-1 in the month of June. They have climbed back into the NL East conversation, which is something nobody in baseball predicted in April when Miami started the season slowly and looked like a sure rebuilding club.
This is not a fluke either. The Marlins are winning because the pitching has stabilized and the young hitters are starting to figure things out. Eury Pérez is back from Tommy John and looking like the high end starter he was projected to be. Sandy Alcantara has been the Sandy Alcantara of three years ago, throwing seven inning starts and demolishing lineups. Edward Cabrera has finally put a full month of starts together.
The offense is the real surprise. The Marlins were supposed to be the worst hitting team in the National League. Instead, they are getting real production from a young infield, a contact heavy outfield, and a catcher who has become one of the better game callers in the league. The team is not slugging like the Dodgers, but they are getting on base, running the bases aggressively, and putting the ball in play with two strikes.
The manager deserves real credit. The Marlins fired their previous skipper last summer. The new guy has been more aggressive with bullpen usage, more willing to platoon, and more focused on small ball than his predecessor was. The clubhouse has noticed. The young players have responded. The vibes inside loanDepot Park have completely shifted.
The NL East is still the toughest division in baseball. The Braves are leading. The Phillies are right behind. The Mets are scrambling to stay relevant after losing seven of their last 10. The Marlins are now in the wild card conversation, which is a wild sentence for a team that started 4-12.
The schedule helps. Miami has soft opponents through the end of the month. The Pirates series finishes Sunday. Then the Marlins host the Royals and the Rockies before heading on a road trip that includes the Nationals. If the Fish can keep playing this way for two more weeks, they are going to be at .500 by the All-Star break, and that changes everything about the trade deadline conversation.
The trade deadline math is the most interesting part. Miami was widely projected to be a seller. The team had been mentioned as a place where contenders could find arms, particularly relievers and back end starters. If the Marlins continue this run, they become buyers. That flips the math for the front office and creates real internal tension about whether to add at the deadline or stick with the long term plan.
The young pitching is the kind of asset every contender wants. The Marlins have spent years building depth in the rotation. Trading from that depth would have been the obvious play in May. It is no longer obvious in June. The longer this hot streak goes, the more uncomfortable the trade deadline gets.
The fan base is starting to show up too. Attendance at home games has been up the last week. Local media coverage has been more positive. The Marlins are a tough sell in Miami, but a winning Marlins team can move the needle for a few weeks.
The schedule will eventually get harder. The Braves and Phillies are not going to let Miami coast into the wild card. The Marlins have to keep playing at this level to stay in the conversation. But seven in a row is seven in a row. Nobody is laughing at the Fish anymore.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
