Miami Marlins can capture local spotlight this weekend with unlikely Wild Card push

Don't look now, but the Miami Marlins just might be the best sports show going this weekend in South Florida.

Alright, yes, there is a UM-UF game replete with the ESPN College Gameday crew going on in Coral Gables that sort of throws a wrench in this happy Marlins narrative. Yet there's no denying that Miami has stubbornly remained a Miami Dolphins first community, just as there's no denying that the Dolphins have been driving local fans crazy since the end of last season. Those frustrations are nearing fever pitch after the Dolphins latest loss to Buffalo on Thursday Night Football, dropping them to an 0-3 record.

And a quick look at the NFL history of teams starting 0-3 shows that that by the end of the weekend, the Miami Dolphins might find themselves having worse playoff odds than the Miami Marlins.

Baseball Reference still gives the Marlins less than a 1% chance entering the weekend. Yet that feels a touch soft after two straight series wins and the return of multiple injured players. It shouldn't take much more this weekend beyond a series win over the Rangers to tack on a percentage point or two to those chances. Which would essentially pull them even or ahead of the owner of America's longest drought without winning a playoff game.

Again, none of this is to say South Florida fans need to start making Marlins related travel plans for October- far from it. What the Marlins do have an excellent chance of doing though is currying a lot of good will by comparison with some of their local competition. The Dolphins were supposed to be perennial contenders by now, enjoying the fruits of a completed rebuild. Heck, judging by social media, one can even throw in the Miami Heat after a too quiet offseason and the news that All-Star Tyler Herro will miss the start of the season due to surgery. The Marlins were supposed to be a depressingly distant fourth on the list of the Big 4 local sports teams in terms of readiness to contend.

All of a sudden, it might just be the back to back champion Florida Panthers that the Marlins are looking up at.

Winning a championship in 2025 is an almost impossible ask, and the odds of that are probably higher than the Marlins odds of even making the postseason. Yet one more week of gritty, competitive baseball? Nine games of solid play with minimal mental mistakes, that offer hope of improvement? Maybe, just maybe, throwing some egg in the face of a hated rival rather than laying down for them again when the lights are bright?

All of that is well within reason to expect from the Miami Marlins the rest of the way. And if they deliver it with the current sports mood around these parts?

The Marlins could win themselves a lot of goodwill moving forward.