Lost season ending with Miami Marlins playing playoff spoiler
For at least one more day in this lost season, the Miami Marlins are still making an impact on the greater picture of the Major League Baseball landscape by playing spoiler.
The Marlins themselves haven’t been relevant in the playoff picture since their collapse just before and just after the All-Star Break pushed them beyond the postseason periphery. A fourth losing season in five years under the Bruce Sherman ownership group is slowly coming to an end. At best, this team will finish with 70 wins — a far cry from what the team’s expectations were even midway through the season when they were one game under .500 in early July.
Before that, though, the Marlins did find themselves in a position to wreak havoc on the National League playoff race to close out the season.
“Looking back on the season, obviously it hasn’t gone the way that we’ve wanted it to,” third baseman/outfielder Brian Anderson said. “A bunch of guys, personally, it hasn’t been the way that they wanted it to be. But I think the best thing we can do right now is just go out there and compete and just do what we can and try to trust ourselves and build some momentum going into the offsesaon.”
And, to their credit, they have done as much and have impacted five teams who were either jockeying for playoff position or trying to get into the playoffs in the process over the last week.
Most notably, Miami essentially ended the Milwaukee Brewers’ playoff chances by winning three of four games in Milwaukee after splitting a two-game series against the New York Mets. That paved the way for the San Diego Padres to clinch their first playoff berth in a full season since 2006 and the Philadelphia Phillies to lock up the National League’s final wild card spot on Monday to end a 11-year playoff drought.
“Pretty nice to see the team not just giving up and saying ‘OK, we are a week away from the season being over with’ and just checking out,” shortstop Miguel Rojas said. “You always want to see that from the guys. ... It’s nice to play in late September and October with teams that are in it. It gives you an understanding or perspective of where you are.”
And Miami can still potentially play a role in the biggest playoff storyline remaining that is going down to the wire.
The race between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets to clinch the NL East and a first-round bye in the playoffs remains ongoing. Atlanta entered the final season of the year with the inside track to a a fifth consecutive division title after sweeping the Mets in a three-game series last weekend. The Braves need just one win against the Marlins or the Mets to lose one of their three games to the Nationals to finish on top.
That means the Braves’ celebration could have happened as early as Monday. But it didn’t. The Mets-Nationals series opener at Citi Field was postponed due to inclement weather, and the Marlins beat the Braves 4-0 at loanDepot park — marking the first time Miami shut out Atlanta since Sept. 8, 2020 — to keep the suspense alive for at least another day.
“Being a spoiler, it gives you a little giddy up for sure,” said Marlins starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo, who tied a career-high with 12 strikeouts over seven shutout innings on Monday. “Gives you another reason to go out there and try to your best. I’m glad we were able to spoil a little bit, put that champagne on ice at least for another day.”
Added outfielder Bryan De La Cruz, who had three hits in the Monday win and was a triple shy of the cycle for the third time in his past nine starts: “The [Braves] are very strong. Some of them thing we’re under them, but we’re playing the same game.”
