Five Things the Miami Marlins Need to Learn Before the End of the Season

With 41 games to go in the regular season, the Miami Marlins sit tied for last in the National League, at 48-73 with the San Diego Padres.

That .397 winning percentage is tied for the fourth lowest in all of baseball, behind the Baltimore Orioles (.294), the Kansas City Royals (.305), and the Chicago White Sox (.356). While the Miami Marlins are bad, at least they’re not “historically” bad.

That’s not to say the Marlins should stand put or that they’re in any way ok. A lot of things need to happen for Miami to field a competitive ball club in 2019.

The Marlins kicked off the campaign by losing 17 of their first 22 contests. After winning in 41 of their next 85, they were pushing very close to respectability. Since fielding a 46-61 record, they have won just two-of-12.

Three-quarters of the way into this season, and the Miami Marlins are right on pace to win exactly 62 games. It’s worse in blowouts, games decided by five or more runs. The Marlins are 11-26 in such contests, versus a reasonably successful 16-14 record in one-run games.

What to Expect

Most were expecting the Marlins to lose 100. I think that a reasonable goal at this point is to aim for a 21-20 record the rest of the way. While that may or may not come to pass, the long-game is for the Marlins to be successful in 2019 and beyond. They’ve started to put the pieces into place already.

Cursed with a worst-in-baseball farm system when they bought the club, the Bruce Sherman group has relied on Gary Denbo and Mike Hill to rebuild it from the ground up. They’re already starting to see positive results.

Miami’s first three draft picks from just two months ago are already playing with the Greensboro Grasshoppers, Miami’s middle-A club. Connor Scott, Osiris Johnson, and Will Banfield are all performing well at the level. Miami’s third round pick, Tristan Pompey, is one level above them, with the high-A Jupiter Hammerheads.

Team management has also become heavily reliant on building the system through trades. Monte Harrison, Sandy Alcantara, Nick Neidert, Jorge Guzman, Isan Diaz, Jose Devers, Magneuris Sierra, Jordan Yamamoto, Zac Gallen, Robert Dugger, Brayan Hernandez, Bryson Brigman, Braxton Lee, and McKenzie Mills are all recent acquisitions that Miami received via trade. They make up nearly half of Miami’s Top 30 prospects, according to the MLB Pipeline.

How can the Marlins compete next season and further on? Here’s five things they’ll have to figure out to make it happen.