1. Kevin Brown in 1996
Speaking of Kevin Brown… the ace had the best season that any starting pitcher has ever had in a Miami Marlins uniform. Are you surprised? Kevin Brown is also the only player twice on this list. It’s actually pretty amazing that both of his seasons with The Fish are on this list, but he earned it
So how did Mr. Brown do in that 1996 season? Well… not too bad, just a 17-11 record and a 1.89 ERA/2.88 FIP with 6.1 K/9 and 1.3 BB/9 in 32 games and 233 innings. The season was worth 7.9 WAR.
Sadly, he was the runner-up to John Smoltz in the NL Cy Young award voting. The Hall of Famer had an ERA that was more than a run higher than Brown and 24 wins. If pitcher wins were treated accurately, Brown would’ve won.
The Miami Marlins didn’t make the playoffs in 1996, but we did the following season in 1997 and won a World Championship. Kevin Brown has 67.8 career WAR and deserves to be in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
This list featured the top five starting pitching seasons in Miami Marlins history based on WAR. If you’d rather consider ERA or FIP then the list is a bit different, with these players swapping their spots. Regardless, WAR is in my opinion the best measure utilizing all factors, and according to it Kevin Brown‘s 1996 season was the best. We have aces that can end up on this list in the future, so this list will hopefully need an edit or two.