Miami Marlins: The franchise all-time bracket
By Bill Felber
Miami Marlins: The All-Time Bracket
No. 1 vs. 8 seed
The 1997 World Series winners deserve the top seed if only because their regular season record was one game better than their 2003 counterparts. In fact, it’s the best in franchise history.
That club featured a highly paid roster of players who for the most part were on the down side, but who had one or two good seasons remaining. Moises Alou drove in 115 runs, Bobby Bonilla added 96 and catcher Charles Johnson was a franchise fixture. Gary Sheffield batted only .250, but he did hit 21 home runs.
The team’s strength was its pitching. Kevin Brown was 16-8 with a 2.69 ERA, while Livan Hernandez, Alex Fernandez, and Al Leiter all put together quality seasons. Robb Nen closed out 35 games.
Now about the 2017 team. As indicated by its record, that Marlins club had no depth. But Ozuna batted .312 with 37 homers and 124 RBIs, Stanton reached 59 homers with 132 RBIs, and Yelich drove in another 81. Second baseman Dee Gordon hit. 308.
Coming off the previous September’s death of ace Jose Fernandez, the mound staff lacked a star, depth, and direction. Jose Urena emerged to win 14 of his 22 decisions, but the Marlins only had one other pitcher with more than eight victories.
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Game 1: The 1997 team’s .568 percentage obviously trumps 2017’s .475.
Game 2: The 1997 World Series winners had a .688 post-season percentage. The 2017 team did not play a post-season game.
Game 3: If 2017 is to get back in the series, it must happen on OPS+. The Stanton-Yelich-Ozuna team had a 107 OPS+ score. The 1997 champions weren’t great offensively, managing only a 98.
Game 4: The 1997 Marlins of Brown, Hernandez, and Leiter compiled a 106 staff ERA+. Without Fernandez, the 2017 staff wandered to an 83 ERA+.
Game 5: The 2017 team produced a 27.4 E=WAR. In m1997 the Marlins won with a 37.4 WAR.
Result: 1997 in five games