‘You can’t get rid of us’: Emotions unfold as underdog Marlins continue playoff run
Brandon Kintzler has a slew of people to thank for the position he’s in right now.
There’s the Miami Marlins front office, who took a chance on the savvy veteran in the offseason. There’s manager Don Mattingly for trusting him to be the team’s closer. There are his teammates, a youth-laden roster who continues to impress him every day in this unprecedented season.
And then there are people like Ricky Bottalico, the one-time MLB relief pitcher and current NBC Sports Philadelphia commentator who handed the Marlins their rallying cry for the 2020 season on a silver platter.
“You have to beat the bottom feeders,” Bottalico said after the Marlins took two of three against the Phillies to begin this pandemic-shortened, 60-game season. “If you don’t think they’re bottom feeders, we’ll see what happens in a couple of weeks and see who’s beating up on them and who’s not. If they’re that good of a club, because I don’t see it. I don’t know what you saw tonight, but I wouldn’t say they’re a juggernaut by any stretch of the imagination.”
Fast forward to Friday. The Phillies didn’t make the playoffs. The Marlins, meanwhile, were celebrating at Wrigley Field following a two-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
Kintzler, who finished tied for fourth in MLB with 12 saves this year, pitched scoreless ninth innings in both playoff wins against his former team to this point and was at the center of the celebration.
So, how do this make you feel Kintzler?
“There was a lot of emotions,” Kintzler said. “Everything that leads up to that out, that inning, this game. This year. Obviously we’re not done, but there are just so many emotions. We’ve been screwed around all year with scheduling, fake rain delays and fake postponements and it’s just been a freaking whirlwind and basically everyone trying to screw with us.
“And just to get the last out right there — We’re still here. You can’t get rid of us. I don’t care if we’re bottom feeders.”
The Marlins had to do far more than just overcome long odds on the field to make it to this point. They had 18 players test positive for COVID-19 following that series-opening series, causing the team to quarantine in Philadelphia for a week and send the rest of their season into disarray. The front office scrambled to fill holes in the roster, primarily in the bullpen where Miami had eight of its original 12 members impacted by the virus.
They spent 23 days on the road to start the year, played 28 games in 24 days to close the regular season, had 18 players make their MLB debuts, had 61 players throw a pitch or take an at-bat.
Only five players spent the entire season on the active roster. Kintzler was one of them.
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“I’m just so proud,” Kintzler said. “I’m proud of these kids. I mean obviously we have a few older guys but we got some young kids that are just buying in. They’re buying into fighting for ourselves and fighting for the team and fighting for Miami. I mean, we just keep sending the message of just worry about winning.”
And with that came the embracing of the underdog mentality, of the bottom feeder mentality.
They wore “Miami Bottom Feeders” T-shirts during batting practice both games at Wrigley Field. Mattingly and all five players who spoke Friday proudly wore the shirts to their postgame press conference.
“That lit a fire under our ass,” said slugging first baseman/designated hitter Garrett Cooper, whose solo home run in the seventh served as the Marlins’ go-ahead run on Friday. “... You take that to heart. You try to stick it to everybody.”
The Marlins internally knew they had a talented roster and were optimistic they could make a run like this since spring training began back in late February.
They had made a relative splash in the offseason, adding veterans like Corey Dickerson, Jesus Aguilar, Matt Joyce, Brad Boxberger, Francisco Cervelli and Kintzler to beef up a young roster brimming with talent. Prospects picked up throughout the first two years of the rebuild were finally closing in on their MLB debut.
Plus, with the starting pitching depth this team had — from those with MLB experience in Sandy Alcantara and Pablo Lopez to prospects Sixto Sanchez and Trevor Rogers — they knew they had a chance even if they were already being counted out before the season began.
“There was a really good vibe because we knew we had good players,” Mattingly said. “We’d signed a lot of guys that came in that we thought were going to bounce back. ... These guys believed in each other and they never quit. When we came back this summer it was the same feeling.”
The belief magnified during the season even after the COVID-19 outbreak that caused speculation and accusations to run rampant. The Marlins denied anyone on the team took part in any salacious activity, as was rumored during their week in quarantine to be one of the causes.
“The narrative about us in Philly was just not fair,” Mattingly said. “The whole narrative of strip clubs and guys were out; it just wasn’t true. But we couldn’t say anything about it. We just had to wear it. And I think it kind of just took off like that.”
When they held their own in the weeks following the outbreak and hovered around .500 when players started returning, they knew it was a matter of time before they would clinch a playoff berth.
“That’s been our motto,” outfielder Lewis Brinson said. “Since we heard that our first series before we got shut down, that’s honestly been the word that has pushed us throughout this whole run. Bottom feeders. Every time we win a game it’s, ‘Good job, you bunch of bottom feeders. It’s pushed us. Going into spring training, we knew nobody believed in us. The people that say they always believed in us now, we know who you are. They counted us out. We appreciate it. We love it. We adore it. We want to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We appreciate it because that’s what has gotten us to this moment.”
And the moment for this team continues.
Are they satisfied with making it this far? Nowhere close. A 31-29 record and a wild-card sweep is just the start. Next up is the National League Division Series, where they’ll face the Atlanta Braves in the best-of-5 series at Houston’s Minute Maid Park with MLB moving into bubbles for the remainder of the playoffs.
But first: Some more celebration. After all, they were given a 0.2 percent chance to make the playoffs back in March.
Mattingly, for the second time in eight days, slid in front of his players for a team photo.
Miguel Rojas, Jesus Aguilar, Starling Marte, Brinson and Monte Harrison smoked cigars.
“Hey,” Aguilar said, “you’ve got to enjoy the moment. Don’t get mad at us, OK? I’m just saying, we’ve got a flight tomorrow. I don’t know about you guys.”
Rojas, the Marlins’ shortstop and team captain, ended the night with a rousing clubhouse speech.
“We deserve a lot of credit and we’re going to give it to ourselves,” Rojas said to his teammates, giving praise to top pitching prospect Sanchez for stepping up in his first career postseason start and Cooper for the go-ahead home run. “Nobody believed in us. Who are the bottom feeders now?”
This story was originally published October 3, 2020 at 7:56 AM.
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