Why mighty Dodgers are proof of concept for the next Miami Marlins playoff run

Promise- the goal of this article isn't convincing you that the Miami Marlins are one ownership group of happy go lucky billionaires away from raising their third World Series trophy.

Don't get me wrong now, that approach would work. Yet alas, that is not the path this Marlins franchise looks to be taking anytime soon.

However, that doesn't mean that both Marlins fans and ownership shouldn't be taking a hard look at the 2025 Dodgers as proof of concept for a potentially deep playoff run being within their grasp. Because make no mistake, the reason that baseball fans are still singing the praises of the Dodgers right now has nothing to do with money.

Alright, the money helped a bit. Stick a pin in that. What is really keeping the Dodgers going right now is the fact they, beyond a shadow of a doubt, have the best starting pitching in these playoffs. The Phillies' Christopher Sanchez might be the only person not named Paul Skenes with a chance to win the NL Cy Young award. Yet the playoffs are a different animal, and plenty of elite pitching arms are only now rounding into form. Three of them play for the Dodgers...and none of them are named Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who also plays for L.A. and pitched so well this season that he cracks most Top 5 NL Cy Young lists.

Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Again, multiple pitchers on playoff teams had better, healthier regular seasons on the mound. Yet you can easily argue that all four of these arms would be taken in one of those "start a franchise" and/or "one pitcher to win one game" drafts that always get kicked around by baseball fans before getting to the rest of the 2025 MLB postseason aces.

While there may be plenty of room to quibble with that assessment, there is zero room for aguing against the Dodgers having the deepest rotation. I mean, I didn't even mention Emmet Sheehan yet. It's an embarrassment of pitching riches- so much the case that a future first ballot Hall of Famer and one of the most coveted starting pitchers of last offseason have been kicked to the bullpen. At any rate, the Dodgers have ridden that starting pitching to a first round sweep of the Reds and a still commanding 3-1 series victory over Philadelphia. The Dodgers bats started out hot, but have gone much quieter as of late. Yet the aces have shined with dominant quality starts in all five wins, and even Wednesday's lone Dodgers defeat had very little to do with Yamamoto's performance.

Which brings us back to the Miami Marlins and their greatest strength: starting pitching.

Because the reality for the Marlins, and every other team, is that the most important thing a team needs to have done this time of year is make it into the postseason dance in the first place. Once the playoffs start? Anything can happen.

The Dodgers' sudden dominance could be certainly be attributed to the big spending super team waking up now that October has arrived, but that answer overlooks the fact that the next four biggest spenders have either already been eliminated or are on the brink of being sent home. In fact, the second biggest spender didn't make the playoffs at all. That would be the New York Mets, eliminated from the playoffs in the final weekend of the season by- you guessed it- the Miami Marlins.

No, it has been elite pitching that has propelled Los Angeles, and it was the same thing that helped Miami bounce New York. On paper, the Mets had the superior team. Unfortunately for the Metropolitans, Miami was in a position to trot out Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez in a three-game series. That ended up being all she wrote for New York. The presence of those two ace caliber arms atop the Marlins rotation was what their own desperate push for a Wild Card spot this season so tantalizing, just as their absence was what made the successful Wild Card push of the overall more talented 2023 team feel so doomed. With one elite starting pitcher left standing in the rotation, the 2023 Marlins weren't going anywhere. With Sandy, Eury, and Edward Cabrera helping the 2025 team, making some noise actually felt possible...even if they would have played the Dodgers.

Next year, that Marlins starting rotation should be even deeper. Alcantara, Perez, Cabrera, Ryan Weathers, Robby Snelling, Braxton Garrett, Janson Junk, and perhaps even Thomas White will all be vying for spots. Obviously, injuries will happen, and the smart money says one of those arms will be moved this offseason. Even accounting for that though, Miami is well positioned to have one of the more formidable starting fours- the fifth pitcher doesn't matter come playoff time- in baseball.

The Marlins will likely still enter 2026 viewed as a long shot at best to make the playoffs. If they do though, and do so with a healthy rotation?

Best of luck to the rest of the National League.