How quiet and steady veteran Starling Marte’s experience helps Marlins in playoff push
Starling Marte has been through this situation before. The star outfielder was in his first full big-league season in 2013 when the Pittsburgh Pirates ended a 20-year postseason drought and made it to the National League Divisional Series before falling in a decisive Game 5 to the St. Louis Cardinals. Pittsburgh made it to the playoffs each of the next two seasons as well.
Fast forward to 2020, and Marte is in that position again. This time, though, he’s a veteran presence instead of the newcomer. This time, he joined a team midway through their hunt for the postseason, with the Miami Marlins acquiring him at the trade deadline as a player the organization hopes serves as that final piece to help a team that has a blend of rising prospects and veteran offseason signings end a 16-year run of missing the playoffs.
“It’s a lot of fun when you’re winning and going for the playoffs,” Marte said through a translator Wednesday before the Marlins played the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. “But I’ve been telling the guys that they need to keep playing hard every day. They’ve got to focus every day. At the end of the day, once we get the guys there, we’ll see the results.”
The results have eluded the Marlins as of late over this pivotal final stretch. Miami (28-27), currently on a three-game losing streak, has an inside track to the playoffs but has not officially clinched a spot in the eight-team National League field with five regular-season games remaining. The Marlins’ simplest path is to win three of their final five games.
That will require the team to get out of its recent funk. Miami has been outscored 31-5 over its past three games dating back to the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader with the Washington Nationals.
“When they’re not playing to that standard,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, “they know it. You’ve got to be better. That standard stays high from Game 1 to Game 162 and into the playoffs. The simplicity of that really becomes the grace of it. Now, you’re not putting extra pressure on yourself. You’re putting the same pressure on yourself.”
Eight-year veteran outfielder Corey Dickerson added: “We’re in good spirits. Lately, the schedule has been hard. The schedule’s been pretty crazy, but I think the challenge is what we all play the game for. We love it. You get the reward by coming to the other end of the challenge. This is just another challenge for us.”
Marte is an example the team’s younger players can look to when it comes to keeping a simplistic approach despite the magnified meaning of these final games.
The 31-year-old with an All-Star nomination and two Gold Glove Awards to his name has been a steadying presence in center field and in the No. 2 spot of Miami’s lineup while helping fortify an offense that has looked sluggish at times.
Heading into Wednesday’s game against the Braves, Marte is hitting .272 (25 for 92) with 13 RBI and 13 runs scored since being acquired by the Marlins. Ten of his 25 hits have gone for extra bases.
He has at least one hit, run or RBI in 16 of his 24 games so far with the Marlins.
He hit a go-ahead home run in his first game with the club, an eighth-inning rocket that went 438 feet to left-center field off Toronto Blue Jays reliever Shun Yamaguchi to clinch a 3-2 win on Sept. 1. He hit a bases-clearing double in the eighth inning against Phillies reliever Brandon Workman on Sept. 10 to set the stage for Jorge Alfaro’s ninth-inning walk-off single.
“Starling’s really quiet,” Mattingly said. “He’s pretty tranquil. He’s not a guy that you’re going to hear or has a huge personality. He’s probably got a pretty good personality, but he’s pretty calm at the ballpark and goes about his business. We respect that. But on the field, to me, he solidified center field. He’s gotten big hits for us. ... He’s been great for us. He’s kind of solidified that one spot that has allowed me to do different things in the corners and that spot in the order is kind of set.”
But Marte is quick to admit his first few days after being traded to the Marlins were difficult. The overnight flight through three time zones as Aug. 31 turned into Sept. 1 drained him physically to the point where he said “my eyes were shutting down.” It was also the first time in his career he was traded mid-season, making him adjust to a new team, a new philosophy, a new clubhouse on the fly.
However, it took Marte little time to notice the unity among the team and to fit into his role on a team in the midst of a playoff run.
“Trades are always difficult,” Marte said, “but once you change your mindset and you start settling in, it comes naturally. And then it’s helping out the young guys to play the game better. They’re coming after us. Just doing that, working hard and helping a lot to keep working.
“At the end of the day,” he added, “it’s the same feeling. Baseball is there. I’m here to give all I’ve got.”
This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 6:14 PM.
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