Why it’s only fitting Marlins’ first playoff run under Jeter ownership starts with Cubs
It was two-and-a-half years ago, March 29, 2018, that the Miami Marlins’ latest rebuild was ushered in by a ball being crushed into the upper decks of right field at Marlins Park. The Chicago Cubs’ Ian Happ turned on Jose Urena’s first pitch, a 95.5 mph fastball over the heart of the plate, and set the tone for what was ultimately an 8-4 Marlins loss in the first game of the Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter ownership group’s tenure.
“Obviously,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said that day, “it didn’t go the way we wanted.”
A lot didn’t go the way the Marlins wanted on the field over the course of those first two seasons. They went 120-203 in that span as the franchise traded the bulk of the franchise’s big-name players to fortify the minor-league system and build depth that would make the club sustainable long-term.
Fast forward to 2020, and that trade-off has paid off. The Marlins are in the playoffs for the first time since 2003.
Their wild-card opponents for a best-of-3 series in MLB’s expanded postseason format: None other than that same Cubs team the Marlins faced as they ushered in the franchise’s latest chapter. Game 1 of the series begins at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Wrigley Field.
Miami went 31-29 this year, posting its first winning record since 2009, to finish second in the National League East and secure a guaranteed playoff spot.
Jeter saw this moment, this return to the playoffs, happening sooner than later, even though there have been plenty of skeptics along the way.
Internally, the expectations were set from the start. The wins, eventually, will come.
“Does the culture come first and then the winning? Or does winning come first and then the culture?,” Jeter said Monday. “In my mind, everyone has to have a winning mind-set. ... That’s the mind-set and the culture that we have, and it’s going to be a culture of competition. They’re out there and they’re competing, and they are going out there with an expectation level that they’re going to win.”
Even when the Marlins were taking their lumps during the past two seasons, players never lost sight of the end goal.
“We expect to win,” Lewis Brinson said after that 2018 Opening Day loss. “It might be far-fetched for some people to believe, but that’s the way we’re believing in this clubhouse, and that’s the attitude we’re going to have. Anybody that runs out against us, they have to go through us. We have nine guys that are going to give them hell through nine innings, or however long we’re out there.”
The Marlins have certainly shown up this season. They overcame a COVID-19 outbreak early in the season, used 61 players overall, 25 rookies and 18 players who made their debuts, and played 24 consecutive days to close the year.
Prognosticators, however, still see the Marlins as having an early playoff exit. They are underdogs for their opening-round matchup with the Cubs, and their 33-to-1 odds to win the World Series are tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for the third-worst among the 16-team field ahead of only the Milwaukee Brewers (35-to-1) and the St. Louis Cardinals (40-to-1).
But the Marlins have been underdogs all year. They were referred to as “bottom-feeders” after winning their first series against the Phillies.
Players have not forgotten that descriptor.
“That has been the term that has pushed us. Every time we won a game, we said, ‘Good job, bottom feeders,’” Brinson said. “We knew going into spring training nobody believed in us. We appreciate it. We love it. We want to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, because that’s what has gotten us to this moment.”
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