How 2020 Miami Marlins could play out like the 2008 Florida Marlins.
Unlike the 2003 World Champs, the 2008 Miami Marlins tend to fall through the cracks for all but the most diehard Marlins fans. Wire to wire though, a case can be made that the 2008 club was actually one of the four most exciting teams in franchise history.
Following an injury-plagued, disappointing 2007 season, the Marlins front office helped to further buoy fan confidence by dealing fan favorites Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit in what is widely considered one of the worst trades of the century. It did not go over well. Expectations were low, despite budding superstar Hanley Ramirez.
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Which made it all the more awesome when the 2008 club got off to a blistering start and spent almost the entire first two months of the season in first place in the NL East. As many as ten games over .500 at one point, they wrapped May at 31-23 and were 32-28 at the sixty game mark.
The success was so good and so sudden, there was even a week heading into the MLB trade deadline where it looked like the Miami Marlins were going to deal one of their top prospects in order to land disgruntled superstar Manny Ramirez. The asking price proved too steep though- some kid named Giancarlo Stanton.
How It Could Not
The 2008 Miami Marlins also had a well-established core. Multiple All-Stars. Multiple players that had won awards. Received Rookie of the Year votes. Won it in Hanley’s case, who was one of the ten best players in the sport at the time.
Unfortunately, also not the case with the 2020 Marlins crew. This will be the season that big jump in talent first happens, much more akin to the 2000 or 2006 teams if this team is to be memorable. And both those clubs either played inconsistently or severely struggled early. In fact, the 2006 team made MLB history by briefly making it back to .500 after being as many as twenty games under.
The 2008 Marlins team is easily one of the best examples in the team’s history of starting fast. The only catch is it also had one of the strongest existing foundations.
Verdict: The 2008 Miami Marlins are the model, but expect a 2003 start.