Miami Marlins: Team Looks to Close out 2014 Strong at Home

On May 22nd, the Miami Marlins were 25-23, sitting two games back of the Atlanta Braves for the NL East lead. At that point, the Marlins were a season high 13 games over .500 at home at 19-6. Away from home, the Marlins were an ugly 6-17.

This was around the time that ball clubs, only the Braves, were crying that the Marlins were stealing signs at home. As a team, the Marlins were pitching, hitting, and fielding better at home than they were on the road.

Flash forward to today. The Marlins now sit at 75-82 with a 41-39 mark at home. The 41 wins represents the Marlins most wins in Marlins Park history. The team is 34-43 away from home.

Since that May 22nd date, the Marlins have gone 22-33 in their last 55 games at home, including their loss to the Phillies last night. The team has gone 28-26 on the road in that time span. The Marlins have gone just 3-8 at home in the month of September.

Today’s matchup with the Phillies will mark the Marlins final home game of the season. The Marlins can pad on a 42nd win to their team record for victories at home. A win would also improve upon the Marlins pathetic 115-127 all-time record at Marlins Park.

As the season draws to a conclusion, we’ll take a closer look about why the Marlins demise began at home. Could the fences that Giancarlo Stanton and company have complained about since the inception of their brand new stadium play a factor into the team’s struggles?

One thing if for sure though, the Marlins need to improve their play at home going forward, if the team has any chance of contending in the next couple of seasons. Of all the teams that are going to make the post-season this year, only the Dodgers have the same amount of wins as the Marlins at home. The Dodgers however are 17 games above .500 on the road.

The Miami Marlins will play their final home game of the 2014 season today against the Phillies, at 4:00PM EST. If you can, you should head out to the Park today and support the team that has sent shock-waves throughout the league this season, surprisingly staying in the race till mid-September.

While a 75-win season is nothing to write home about, after a 100-loss season a year ago, this season cannot be seen as anything short of a major accomplishment for the ball club. With two more wins in 5 games, the Marlins would have reached a plateau of a 15-game improvement from a season ago.

If they improve another 15 games next season, the Marlins could be fighting the Nationals for the division crown.