Miami Marlins Make ESPN: Three Keys To Watch For

As some of the more alert Miami Marlins fans might have noticed, our beloved team hasn’t gotten a great deal of national spotlight over the years.

Unless of course, it’s to either ridicule penurious owner Jeffrey Loria or crack jokes about poor attendance numbers. To be fair, the two do tend to go hand in hand for the Miami Marlins.

But real attention? Coverage of the Marlins like they’re a real team with real players and real fans? That’s been a battle. Tonight though, the Fish square off against the New York Mets on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.

And I’ll be honest- I’m pretty jacked. Cuban coffee will be made, sleeping in will be swapped out for accomplishment so I can enjoy the game in peace, caps and jerseys will be broken out. Happily tossing aside all past bitterness to embrace the ESPN love, even if it will be mostly bestowed upon the New York Mets fragile but golden rotation.

Marlins fans outside the friendly confines of South Florida can rejoice in being able to watch their team without resorting to apps or sports bars, and all fans can enjoy watching their team get the national treatment. Fans in Miami can just enjoy not having to deal with transplanted Mets fans in person- always a plus.

In any event, the ESPN spotlight is a great way to kick off the season. What follows are three key storylines to watch tonight as the two NL East rivals square off.

Storyline One: Will The Marlins Mail It In? 

Happily enough, the Fish have won three in a row heading into tonight’s finale, and have already secured their first series victory of the season. But will the result of that be a game not worth watching after the first inning?

Typically, when teams have already won the first two to three games of the series, the manager tends to pump the breaks a little bit. This is especially true on Sundays. There’s a real chance this could end up being our first Ichiro Suzuki start of 2017, and we might see the red-hot J.T. Realmuto taking a seat as well in favor of backup backstop A.J. Ellis.

However, this is a Sunday night game, meaning the Marlins are getting their regular amount of rest. Plus, Monday is an off-day. When you throw in the fact the players will probably be a little pumped about the national coverage, it will be interesting to see how Don Mattingly handles this one. All-in? Or rest up?

Storyline Two: Balance Between Memoriam And Celebration? 

While I did poke some fun at the years of jaded Marlins coverage in the introduction, it does have to be acknowledged that the everyone remotely connected to baseball has been nothing but compassionate and generous when it comes to their treatment of Jose Fernandez.

So one thing I’m looking to see, in this first nationally covered game since his passing, is how much of the Marlins half of the coverage is dedicated to the former superstar.

Will it be balanced and measured, completely sidestepped, or overdone to the point Fish fans will find themselves grumbling that there are other players on the team? All strike me as equally possible.