Who Miami Marlins Fans Should Root For In LCS, World Series

Morning Marlin Maniacs, and welcome to another Marlins free postseason. How’s October treating you?

Part of our audience likely loves baseball enough that, no matter what, this is the best month of the year. Playoff baseball, and then at the end you get to put on a funky costume and watch Halloween movies while binging on candy.

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Another part is probably SoFla sports fan first and foremost though, and no amount of candy or seasonal cinematic classics can distract you from the fact the Marlins aren’t playing, the Dolphins are terrible, the Hurricanes just lost seven straight to FSU, the Heat broke your heart all offseason to the point you don’t care when they start, and that neither hockey nor college basketball season has started yet.

It’s possible I’m projecting.

It’s also possible that if you don’t enjoy costumes, candy, and candy corn concerned cinematic classics- not to mention overused alliteration- that you should feel free to go elsewhere. Don’t want to know you.

But for those continuing on, those looking to the 2016 MLB playoffs for the excitement that only baseball can bring, it’s time to figure out who to root for. Assuming you don’t have a Second City reason- pun not necessarily intended- to support a particular remaining squad, what added reasons can we dig up?

Awesome, stand alone storylines? Ties to the Marlins? Teams we hate because of what they do to the Marlins? We’ll find a reason that suits you.

Blue Jays, Cubs, Dodgers, Indians, Nationals. Team by team, let’s dive in.

The Chicago Cubs 

The vast majority of non-Cardinals fans are probably leaning this direction already. Crowned as presumptive champions in the offseason, there was briefly talk of making it official after their torrid start those first two months. The Loveable Losers are once again a series away from a partial breaking of the infamous Curse, and would be the on paper favorite in any matchup.

Marlins Reasons: First and foremost, I give you Chris Coghlan. A former 2009 NL ROY as a Marlin, he’s settled comfortably into an existence as a mediocre role player, widely respected as a grinder willing to take on any role. Cogs is your roster tie, but there is one more former Fish you’ll see on the field for the Cubbies. That’d be first base coach Brandon Hyde, better known as Marlins Manager No. 11. Hyde was the fill-in manager for that one game between the time Edwin Rodriguez quit and Jack KcKeon finished packing his suitcase for his second stint with the club. Rather than focus on his 0-1 record technically making him the worst manager in team history in terms of winning percentage, which is fun trivia, I will say he spent nine years with the organization as a minor league manager and major league bench coach.

There’s one more reason though I want to throw out. Earlier this week, I suggested that Cubs reliever Aroldis Chapman would make an excellent free agent target for the Marlins. While I think the Marlins will be competitive in 2017, they’ll be far from a favorite. If Chapman is able to check off “World Champion” from his career to-do list in 2016, he might be a bit more willing to sign with the club that’s close to his offseason home.

Other Reasons: Are you a fan of watching history? How about historic, beautiful ballparks? Really don’t think I need to build up the drama that would surround a Cubs World Series trip, the first since a local tavern owner was goat-shamed back in 1945. Of course, the drought runs all the way back to 1908 for that elusive title. The history is the story, whether you have family ties to Chi-town or not.

For me, Cubbies are the least objectionable from the Marlins angle- not a division rival, not a former employer of the team’s skipper. But it’s so hard to let go of the woeful Cubs story. The sky is blue, the grass is green, the Cubs and Red Sox can’t win the World Series. We were taught this growing up. Boston earned it with that four game rally against the Yankees. The Cubs…they might need to do something equally amazing for me to feel good about reordering the universe.

By the way, #goatshaming is apparently an actual thing.  Because of course it is.

The Los Angeles Dodgers 

The Dodgers have been in the playoffs of late more than any of the remaining squads, making it seven times in the last ten years. But they haven’t made it to the Fall Classic since 1988, so they would also represent a marked change.

Marlins Reasons: Player-wise, it’s Adrian Gonzalez. I’ve written many times in the past about Gonzalez’s Marlins connection, as he was the top prospect the team dealt to the Rangers in 2003 for Ugueth Urbina. The championship bullpen was bolstered, but at the cost of dealing away the best first base prospect in the organization before letting Derrek Lee walk in the offseason. Stings for sure, but make it a point not to criticize any moves made in a championship season.

More than any other team though, even the Nats, there might be a solid Marlins reason to root against the Dodgers. Remember, the Dodgers canned Mattingly because they believed he couldn’t get them to the World Series. A World Series win for Los Angeles would obviously justify that decision, which could spark some unpleasant doubts about whether the right guy is running the Marlins after all, especially when you factor in that second-half collapse the Fish just had. Then again, Mattingly made the playoffs three years in a row. At this stage, you’d take that production.

For them, the Marlins owned the Dodgers season. Owned. If LA wins, we’ll have that small consolation to smile about.

Other Reasons: Clayton Kershaw. Enough said.

But if you want more, then the Dodgers aren’t the Nationals, and don’t have an amazingly fascinating history of losing. It’s the second shortest drought of the remaining teams behind the Blue Jays ’93 win. They’re also, with all due respect for the fact the Nationals have a slightly better win-loss record, the other remaining October superpower. A Cubs-Dodgers NLCS would be far more compelling theatre.

Really though, Clayton Kershaw. Enough said.

The Cleveland Indians 

Started this article out talking up the appeal cinematic classics. Therefore, I’m strongly in favor of nothing impacting the comedy classic Major League, and even it’s significantly lesser sequel for that matter. The Indians must forever remain a punch line.

Marlins Reasons: Andrew Miller comes to mind. This will be me at my most vindictive by the way. The signature piece acquired, along with fellow dead to me ballplayer Cameron Maybin, in the worst trade in team history, Andrew Miller remains a walking “not Miguel Cabrera” billboard. The revulsion over that failed late 2007 deal has only deepened over the past five years, as it has gradually been discovered that he’s actually really good at the whole baseball thing if you just ask him to pitch one or two innings.

Or maybe you liked Andrew Miller when he was here. In that case, there you go.

The Indians did sweep Miami this year, but as it was only a three game sample size, it’s hard to feel bad about anything other than the existence of Fernando Rodney. Overall, not much here.

Other Reasons: The last time the Indians won a World Series? Satchel Paige was a rookie. The last time they played in a World Series? Why, the Marlins hadn’t even won a World Series yet.

Tee-hee. Yep, that 1997 Series was the last time the Tribe made it.

Touched on this in the Blue Jays rundown, but in terms of signature cities, the “Land” is not your go to. Progressive Field is a nice stadium though, easily beating out the Rogers Center. Note to Blue Jays fans- when you have a hotel in right centerfield and your confines still look drab, you might want to jazz things up. If you’re into theme eating, it would be hard to top the artery-clogging awesomeness of an all Midwest Series.

The Washington Nationals 

Marlins 2 Nationals 0

That’d be the World Series stat line between the two NL East Rivals. The Marlins have won the World Series twice. The Nationals have never won a World Series. And not just since 2005, when they became the Nationals. But since 1969, when they became a team.

Marlins- two titles. Nationals- zero titles. Zero, from the early 17th century French word zero, meaning none. They’ve never won. The Marlins have. Twice.

Alright, done now.

Marlins Reasons: Well, we lost the division to them, fare and square. Joyously spiteful rant above aside, they’re better than us. Your best reason to root for the Nats is the classic “we lost to the eventual champion” apologia. And we played them close this year by the way, not falling under .500 against them until the last day of the season.

On the other hand, they’re the Washington Werth-Harpers, and watching them crash and burn could be fun for some of you. Definitely the best instance of having a team to passionately root against we have going this October.

Player-wise, former Fish Randy Knorr is their Senior Baseball Advisor. Knorr played for the 1998 Marlins. Given that team’s performance, guess you can go either way there.

Other Reasons: I’ll go ahead and rank Max Scherzer ahead of Corey Kluber, calling him the third best pitcher still pitching. Having never won, the Nationals would absolutely be a different storyline, though really the even-year Giants were the only completely stale storyline out of the original ten postseason bound clubs.

As objectively as possible though, the Nationals are a tough sell. Their superstar is polarizing, drawing as much adoration as he does enmity. He’s also really struggled this season, with every outfielder on the Marlins arguably having a better season. In a lot of years, they’d have the sentiment card from the average fan with the “never having won” argument going for them. But two teams have significantly longer droughts, and against the Cubs, all such claims to sympathy for suffering are laughable in comparison. No retiring fan favorites either to soften them up.

There’s probably a political joke to be found somewhere, likely one arguing for and against a national capital champion. I’ll go ahead and let you folks come up with your own.

End of the day, give me Canada over Chicago. Pass the poutine and the pizza, and enjoy the fireworks.

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