Marlins and Dolphins, in a race for relevancy, offer hope at a time we all need that | Opinion
The Miami Marlins were flying to Philadelphia to begin their 28th season, one like none other, while back home, the Miami Dolphins’ coming season began to unfurl as rookies reported for training camp.
Both restarts occur, of course, amid the peril and gloom of the ongoing coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic that is overshadowing all of life in America in 2020, with South Florida having it worse than most.
Will the Marlins and MLB get through unscathed to finish their delayed, truncated 60-game season? Will an NFL season happen at all when expectations of the coronavirus worsening already have led some teams to announce they will play with no fans attending?
The bizarre, frightening time we’re all in makes sports’ restart seem risky and small. Even as we hunger for the distraction of live games, leagues crowning champions in 2020 will seem almost a Pyrrhic victory for sports as we see the U.S. death at 145,000 and climbing.
As one who writes and talks about sports for a living, I can tell you I cannot bring myself to see teams and athletes and games as mattering much these days, beyond the brief escape from reality that isn’t really possible. I recallI felt something similar on and after September 11, 2001, when my country suffered another deadly hit.
That was the day I stopped using words like “tragedy” or “disastrous” to describe anything happening in sports.
So, yes, for me, it is difficult today to focus much on the Marlins opening in Philly Friday night with Sandy Alacantara on the mound. (The home opener in an empty Marlins Park with piped-in crowd noise will be Monday night). Just as it is hard to muster much gravitas on Tua Tagovailoa and other Dolphin draft picks and rookies showing up for work Thursday.
I’m going to do my best, though. To talk sports. Fins coach Brian Flores calls a football field “a place to get away for a little bit” — away from the reality of a coronavirus plague and the racial injustice spawning protests nationwide.
So here’s that rabbit hole for me as the Marlins and Dolphins both get back to work:
The similarities between the state of the two franchises are stunning. The blueprints are identical as is the timing.
The Dolphins and Marlins are in the midst of complete, ground-up rebuilds that saw both teams trading away all of their star players, one for high NFL drafts picks, the other for top MLB prospects.
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and Marlins CEO Derek Jeter have been up front with essentially telling fans there will be a challenging transition, a lot f losing, but that the future will be bright and that winning will be sustainable.
“Trust us,” is the basic message from both.
One notable difference in the methods is that the Dolphins are augmenting their youthful, draft-up philosophy with big spending. The Fins invested a staggering and NFL-leading $278 million in free agent contracts earlier this year.
The Marlins have done the same but on a less costly scale in acquiring veterans such as Jesus Aguilar, Jonathan Villar and Corey Dickerson. At some point, it may take a big-bucks splash signing to elevate Miami from improved to contending.
For now, the Dolphins and Marlins are in a race for relevancy.
Fins infamously have not won a playoff game since the 2000 season. The Marlins have not made the postseason since 2003 or had a winning record since ‘09.
For both teams it’s about more than winning again. It’s about reestablishing their hold in their own market. The Marlins, especially, are now challenged by the arrival of expansion soccer team Inter Miami, with MLS season running concurrently with baseball’s.
The Miami Heat and Florida Panthers have managed to stay competitive without wholesale rebuilds, yet another reason why the Marlins and Dolphins must begin to prove they’re on the right path.
This is not a year to anticipate playoffs for either team. The construction is ongoing. But this is a year to anticipate progress for both. No, to pretty much demand it.
The Dolphins exceeded some expectations at 5-11 last year but now must parlay dividends from a league-leading 13 draft picks and all that free agent spending. With Tom Brady gone from New England there is an opening Miami must begin to seize. Tagovailoa? All he has to be is everything that’s expected.
The Marlins failed badly to reach expectations last season at 57-105, the club’s most losses since 1998. There is much pressure on manager Don Mattingly and his improving team to start offering tangible proof that the grand rebuild is working, and was worth the pain of seeing Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, J.T. Realmuto and all those other stars traded away.
So much in America is wrapped in despair right now, but, amid all of that, the Marlins and Dolphins are in a position to offer their fans reasons to hope and to see better days ahead.
In the summer of 2020, that’s not nothing. That sort of feels like a lot.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 11:41 AM.
