Miami Marlins blow chance to change image, draw fans with another loss to Braves

What a difference a couple of days can make, right Miami Marlins fans?

Monday night, the Marlins seemed set to storm through Atlanta on the strength of a resounding 10-4 victory. The chance was so close, particularly after the Fish took a 4-0 lead Tuesday. A chance not just to win a series, but as discussed here at the start of the week, a chance to perhaps change the entire perception of the franchise.

That...did not happen. The Marlins lost the next two games, lost in Atlanta again, and fell below .500 for the first time this season.

In the grand scheme of a 162-game season, this isn't that big of a deal. The Mets are still behind the Marlins in the NL East, and had lost seven in a row heading into Wednesday. Philadelphia hasn't been much better. The Blue Jays have been terrible. Yet three of these teams are still heavily favored to make the playoffs, and even Miami still has their highest odds in years. Teams stumble- it happens. Between the difficulty of the schedule and the injury to Kyle Stowers, the beginning of the season was always more about staying afloat than anything else.

If nothing else, the Marlins are doing just that. Barely swimming, defiantly not sinking.

However...boy did they blow an opportunity here. If they had won this series? If they had been able to come home with a winning record and an empty sports landscape? Both the Heat and Panthers are out of the playoffs. The level of Dolphins fan apathy has never been higher. The focus would have been rightly and solely on the Marlins, back in town to battle a 2025 playoff team with aces Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez ready to take the mound.

Now, that last bit is still true of course. Sandy and Eury are pitching. The Brewers should make for a fun series- the teams were an even 3-3 against each other last year and are 1 and 2 respectively atop the MLB stolen base leaderboard. You can even argue that Miami should have an edge with the Brewers down their two biggest stars in Jackson Chourio and old friend Christian Yelich.

But...who cares?

Certainly you and I do, along with at least10,000 other Marlins fans that made it out to a game that wasn't the season opener. Anyone that was on the fence though? That hadn't made it out yet, and was waiting for a quality opponent and/or signs of change for the better from the organization? What exactly are they seeing that is any different from anything that has come before these past couple of decades?

The answer is nothing. Once again the Marlins have wilted just when more people would have started to look. Once again there are questions about roster construction and how committed the organization is to putting together a roster that can win. These questions may well not be fair, but they are the kinds of questions the undecideds on all those Marlins TV subscriptions and Marlins tickets will be asking themselves.

The Miami Marlins had a golden chance against the Atlanta Braves to give some encouraging answers to some of the questions. Unfortunately, that's just another chance gone with the wind.

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