Miami Marlins: 2003 or 2008, two ways season can play out
Miami Marlins history shows two ways the 2020 campaign could play out for the team.
The Miami Marlins were never expected to contend heading into the 2020 MLB season.
That’s not exactly breaking news. What has struck me by surprise is just how often the 2003 Miami Marlins have come up this long, long offseason. That’s probably partly the fault of last year’s world champion. The 2019 Washington Nationals, just like Miami in ’03, stumbled mightily out of the gates before beginning their title run.
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The moral of these stories is that teams won’t have that luxury in 2020. Sixty games is a blink of an eye in sports’ longest season, and the teams that play in October will most likely be the ones that stayed hot wire to wire. There’s arguably a better chance of a team starting fast and sleepwalking through September making the playoffs than the opposite.
The fact that the 2003 Miami Marlins would not have made the playoffs in a sixty game season is a valid one. But it got me to thinking about other Marlins teams that might have actually had a real shot at reaching the Fall Classic under such conditions. To my mind, the 2008 Miami Marlins are the best candidate.
So which club, 2003 or 2008, is the best model for how the 2020 season will play out for the Marlins? Let’s take a look.