BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
The Miami Marlins were attempting to take a page from the Florida Panthers.
They were looking to be the next feel-good story in South Florida. There was a period where the Fish were 8-1-1 in series, had a nine-game winning streak and even sent a few players to the All-Star Game in Atlanta.
We did a podcast on the Marlins after they swept the New York Yankees 3-0 and sold out all three games at LoanDepot Park “Are the Marlins Contenders or Pretenders?” Miami won on the field and at the gate as 101,000+ fans attended that series.
Many of us felt that Manager Clayton McCulllough had his young team trending in the right direction.
After the Yankees series, the Houston Astros came to town and the Fish were feeling good.
But it didn’t take long for the series and what took place from August 4-6 for reality to set in.
An August 4, the Astros pounded Miami 10-2 in front of 10,827. The Marlins lost 7-3 to Houston on August 5 as 12,186 saw them lose to the first place Astros. In the finale on August 6, 10,073 saw Houston lose 6-4 as Miami averted the sweep. The attendance for the three games was 33,086.
At the time of the trade deadline, Miami decided not to sell.
They kept Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera.
The only player that was moved was outfielder Jesus Sanchez to the Houston Astros for three minor leaguers. The way the Marlins change their roster, these guys can be in the Big Leagues in no time,
But to be 55-55 after the Yankees series was quite an accomplishment.
Miami is the only team to have a winning record all-time vs the Bronx Bombers.
At one point, the Marlins were 16 games under .500 and rolled out six consecutive series wins to reach 55-55.
The 2025 season has had its’ peaks and valleys.
One of the lowest points of the season occurred during a three game series vs the Colorado Rockies. At the time, the Rockies were playing such poor baseball that there was a chance they could challenge the Chicago White Sox futility record last year.
Here is how things shook out during the series that took place from June 2-4.
On June 2, the Rockies defeated Miami 6-4 in front of 5,894 fans. The Rockies won their 10th game of the season.
On June 3, 7,583 attended a 3-2 loss while on June 4, Colorado won 3-2 in front of 6,261 fans.
For the three game series, 19,738 fans attended in a ballpark that has a capacity of 37,442. The Marlins lost money staffing the ballpark for the Rockies series. What’s embarrassing about this series is Miami averaged 6,579 fans.
The Athletics average 10,069 at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, as the park’s capacity is 14,000. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays are averaging 9,872 at George M Steinbrenner Field which holds 11,206.
The biggest feel good story of the year has by far has been left-handed hitter Kyle Stowers, who was acquired at the 2024 trade deadline for All-Star Trevor Rogers.
Before he went on the Injury List, Stowers was hitting .288 with 25 homers and 73 RBI in 457 plate appearances. The injury that sidelined him was a grade one left side strain. On July 13, he hit three home runs and collected six RBIs, against his old team the Baltimore Orioles.
As of August 7, the Rogers trade for Stowers was a win-win situation for both sides. Stowers was hitting .294 with 25 homers and 71 RBI. Rogers had a 5-2 record with a 1.44 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP for the Baltimore Orioles.
Stowers and Nick Kurtz of the A’s won the player of the Month honors for July.
Kurtz hit .395, with 11 HR, 27 RBI and a 1.439 OPS.
Stowers hit .364, with 10 HR, 20 RBI and 1.269 OPS.
The Marlins playoff hopes have nose-dived especially after the Houston series.
Miami hit the road and lost to Atlanta 4-1 in a five-game series. The Marlins traveled to Cleveland and lost a three-game series to the Guardians 2-1. The road trip continued and so did the losing as Boston took the series 2-1 at Fenway Park.
Would coming home change in terms of winning series?
No.
The Marlins lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves 2-1 in these respective series. In the opening game of the Cardinals series, St. Louis snapped a five game losing streak.
There is no question that losing outfielder Stowers has been a difficult blow to the Marlins.
But injuries are part of the game.
Earlier this season, we saw Cal Quantrill pitch the immaculate inning. He was the only major league signing this off-season.
The right-handed pitcher was placed on outright waivers. He was owed the remainder of his $3.5 Million salary, posting a 5.50 ERA in 24 starts, including a 11.25 ERA in three starts in August.
The Atlanta Braves wasted no time adding Quantrill, whose record stands at 4-12, with a 6.07 ERA and 85 strikeouts.
In his most recent game, he gave up nine runs, nine hits in 3.1 innings as the Braves we’re shelled by the Philadelphia Phillies 19-4 on Thursday Night in Philly.
In this story, are some videos that I know you will enjoy and these will talk about the peaks and valleys that the Marlins are dealing with in the summer.
A year ago, the Marlins finished with a 62-100 record.
With the Marlins 7-4 win at New York over the Mets Thursday Night, the Marlins won the 63rd contest surpassing last season’s total.
It will be interesting to see what the final triumph total becomes.
Manager Clayton McCullough is one of the nicest people I’ve ever worked with. Not only is he pleasant to work with, but he has a good temperament with the fans.
I hope he has the time to see the fruits of his labor.
Unfortunately, Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter and Kim Ng weren’t able to complete what vision they had for the franchise.
It’s good that the Marlins have had the opportunity to honor championship managers Jim Leyland and Jack McKeon this season.
Now we’ll see if the Marlins retire those skippers numbers and other players in the future who are inducted into their Hall of Fame, perhaps Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis and Josh Beckett.
To date, there are no numbers retired in the rafters and a good spot for them would be next to the Championship Banners of 1997 and 2003.
The lesson McCullough has had to covey to his players, these are the dog days of summer.
Many of these players came from somewhere to get their chance of playing Major League Baseball.
It will be interesting to see if the Marlins can learn enough this season and change the narrative as to how to become contenders thus convincing fans to continue coming to the ballpark.
This is a fanbase which has experienced so much losing and when the team becomes consistent winners, aside from the New York Yankees, Mets, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and Detroit Tigers, it will be a tough sell.
The Yankees, Red Sox and Tigers come every two years.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@Gmail.com. You can follow him on X @TribuneSouth.
To see his broadcasts, go to YouTube and Subscribe to South Florida Tribune.
He also wrote a book, “Lessons From The Microphone” which talks about Old School Media vs New School Media. It’s available on Amazon/Kindle and Barnes & Noble.
