Miami on the brink: Marlins lose again and, like Heat, must now win three games in a row | Opinion
Miami on the brink.
The Marlins on Wednesday joined the Heat there — both teams’ improbable playoff runs now in desperate peril, one loss from ending.
Do you believe in miracles, South Florida? (Dare you ask for two of those?).
The Marlins had the chance to even their National League Division Series with the Braves, just as the Heat had that chance against the Lakers in the NBA Finals the night before. Both failed.
For the Marlins it was Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to Atlanta, creating a 2-0 hole in a best-of-5 series, equaling the Heat being down 3-1 in a best-of-7.
Baseball teams down 2-0 in a best-of-5 have lost the series 88 percent of the time. Basketball teams down 3-0 in the NBA Finals have come back to win only one time. Ever.
The Fish had no offense to back up starter Pablo Lopez against the Braves’ Ian Anderson; Atlanta had just enough on solo home runs by Dansby Swanson and then Travis d’Arnaud. Ronald Acuna Jr. struck out four times one day after his hit by pitch and home run sparked the Braves, but not much else went right for Miami.
Atlanta was second in the majors with 103 homers in 60 games this COVID-shortened season, and has clubbed seven in four postseason games.
Now the Marlins and Heat both must win three games in a row, one team to stay alive and advance in the MLB playoffs, the other to raise the franchise’s fourth championship trophy. The Fish face elimination Thursday, and the Heat on Friday night.
The odds are long. And that’s just the plain math. They’re longer when you consider the two daunting opponents:
The Marlins against division rival Atlanta, their nemesis, whose power bats have buried Miami the past two games.
And the Heat against driven old friend LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Nobody thought either Miami team’s season would last this long.
Now nobody thinks either will survive this triple must-win precipice.
Both seasons were improbable.
Now either surviving these dire straits seems impossible.
The question for both the Marlins and Heat today:
How much fight you got left?
How much belief?
It’s fitting in way that both face this mountain now, of all times.
This whole year has been a struggle. For everybody. It has been a constant fight to stay safe, and sane, amid the tumult of a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 210,000 Americans and still grips the nation. Then there’s the racial injustice that has caused protest in the streets nationwide, something that has especially engaged athletes.
Marlins players began this delayed season in July with a spate of postponed games after 18 players tested positive for COVID. Yet the team that lost 105 games last season is in the second round of the playoffs.
Heat players have been sealed in a bubble outside Orlando, away from their families for months. Yet a team that didn’t even make the playoffs last year is competing for a championship.
All of sports has faced the challenge of following protocols to keep players, coaches and staff healthy, and the challenge of performing in empty stadiums and arenas, all in the context of national crises of health and social justice.
The Marlins and Heat have navigated so much tumult and doubt to get right here.
Now all each has to do is just win three games in a row.
That’s all.
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 4:59 PM.
