Los Angeles Angels and Miami Marlins: Three stories to watch

History will be in the air when the Miami Marlins face off against the Los Angeles Angels this weekend at Marlins Park.

Which is great news, as I know some Miami Marlins are already looking ahead to drafts and training camps. This series should be electric though. Oh and just to get it out of the way, yes, I know the full name of the visiting nine is the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It’s just way too much to type more than once. Typing “Angels” after Angeles is bad enough.

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But on the plus side, we get to see Mike Trout. We get to see Albert Pujols. We also get to see a Miami Marlins team that, if nothing else, has started to knock in runs again. It will unfortunately take a month of such scoring before I can tease impact games again, but as teased above, there is plenty of opportunity for baseball history to be made this weekend.

Baseball fans love their numbers after all, and this series promises the potential for both Miami Marlins and MLB milestones. It’s not often these two teams meet, of course. It is an occurrence made possible only by the ever-debatable phenomena of Interleague Play. In fact, this series is probably the textbook definition of the pro argument for it, as personified by Mr. Trout. If it weren’t for this series, the only way Marlins fans would ever get to see baseball’s best player without buying cross-country airfare would be if the two teams met in the World Series. Or to go to the All-Star Game.

Actually, on that last point, kinda surprised Jeffrey Loria didn’t find a way to play this series in L.A. instead. You know there’s at least one baseball household out there in Miami that just bought Angels and Cubs tickets, rather than break the bank on the Midsummer Classic.

In any event, plenty to follow in this series. Be your pleasure the history of the Fighting Fish, the history of the game, or just a thirst for highlight reel power, we’ve got you covered. Let’s dive in.

Worst Miami Marlins Month Ever? 

The short answer is no. Even if the Miami Marlins are swept this weekend, that distinction is technically off the table.

But they could tie.

In June of 2011, the Marlins posted a 5-23 record. That was enough fun to cause manager Edwin Rodriguez to quit. One win in six tries is all Miami needs, the first three of which come against these Angels, to avoid claiming a share of that title. That much seems reasonable to hope for.

The bigger questions are just how far the 2017 Marlins can move away from even being in the running for worst month, and whether they can outright avoid having the worst May ever.

The current May title goes to the 2013 Marlins, at 6-22. So that’s one win to tie, and two to escape. A surprise series win here would put the club in fine shape to even break out of the Top 10 Worst Months, once you remove twenty-three Octobers at any rate.

Finally, I’m sure many Marlins fans have noticed that the club hasn’t managed to win a series yet this month. This has happened before, but it’s extremely rare. Once you discount all those regular season Octobers (and one March), it’s happened only three times in franchise history. And one of those was in April of 1995, when the team only played six games on account of the Strike.

Depending on how glass half empty, glass half full you look at a series split, there was a fourth time the Marlins went winless. In that abysmal 2013 May, the club did manage one split against the Phillies. I choose the glass half full view personally, but wanted to put it out there in case anyone is checking the math.

So while it would be hard to match this month for disappointment, it will really only take one win to avoid making this stretch of futility historic for Miami.

Will The Miami Marlins Finally Solve The Angels? 

For much of their history, the Miami Marlins were actually one of the best teams in baseball when it came to Interleague Play. It was a fun quirk, especially during the lean years of 1998-2002, when the club would trounce teams like the Yankees only to go on to get clobbered by lesser NL competition.

Even though that has tailed off as of late, the Marlins have held their own against the Junior Circuit. In fact, the Fish have won at least one series against every team in Major League Baseball.

Except the Angels.

Miami is 4-8 all time against Los Angeles, eking out a lone win in all four dropped series. Admittedly, this is something that will mean very little to the team itself, as only Giancarlo Stanton was even on the roster for more than one of these previous series losses. And it’s not like a special trophy is handed out for crossing all thirty MLB teams off your dance card.

But it’s an interesting nugget of franchise lore, and a trivia tidbit I’d be happy to discard for the knowledge the Marlins had won a series against every team in the game. In a season shaping up the way this one is, I don’t think we can afford to discount any positive.