Miami Marlins Fish Flash 4/5

Morning Marlin Maniacs, and what a glorious day it is.  The season starts now as the Miami Marlins will send Wei-Yin Chen to the mound this evening at Marlins Park to open up their twenty-fourth season against the Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander.  Stories can shift now from speculation and reading into practice performances, and focus on real, official play.

So let’s kick off your Marlins Opening Day with the Fish Flash.  We’ve got a bit more of that speculation for you to get you through until first pitch, feeding you some interesting stories on both established strengths and hopefully fixed weaknesses that should help fuel that inalienable Opening Day right to Opening Day’s most precious gift: hope.

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The 2016 Offense: Betting Big On Addition Through Health 

Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald leads fans through a very similar, albeit much better sourced accounting of what I’ve been telling colleagues that have asked all offseason: the Marlins plan for fixing their offense rests largely on 2015’s calamitous misfortune just not happening again injury wise.  Worth a look for those still despairing over the offseason failure to add a bat to a club that ranked 29th in runs scored last year.

Opening Day Lineup Revealed 

Not that a ton of mystery was revolving around the shape it would take based on the last week of Grapefruit League and exhibition play, but MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro has the goods on what tonight’s lineup card will look like.  Take a look, and be sure to chime in in the comments section or on Twitter with us tonight on what your ideal order would be.

Sure They Can’t Score, But They Sure Can Field 

Lastly, we offer you Andre Fernandez’s stirring Herald review of what was far and away the greatest strength of the 2015 squad: their defense.  Widely regarded as the best defensive unit the Marlins had seen since their 2003 title run, the unit returns intact for 2016.