Noted Miami Marlins Killer Nick Markakis Finally Stopped

The Miami Marlins can breathe a collective sigh of relief, now that the menace known as Nick Markakis has been stopped.

The Miami Marlins can finally stop looking over their shoulder, as Nick Markakis has finally been stopped.

Of course, it would have been nice if the Fish had finally figured him out, rather than having to rely on the veteran outfielder’s decision to announce his retirement this past Friday. No matter though- one of the more prolific Miami Marlins killers in recent years need no longer concern them. Colleague David Hill took a look at his overall MLB career this past weekend, but the focus here will be on the trauma he inflicted upon Miami.

Ronald Acuna Jr. and Freddie Freeman may well be generational talents. Bryce Harper has certainly been a pain. Surely someone on the Mets has been difficult to get out. But Markakis? He turned making the Miami Marlins, and their fans, suffer into an art form from the moment he arrived in Atlanta in 2015.

From 2015 to 2019, Markakis put up a .301 average and .384 OBP against Miami, tagging them for 7 HRs and 46 RBI. That’s bad enough. But what made Markakis particularly irritating was that for those first three seasons, he always saved his best for the Marlins. In 2015, he was a .296/.370 hitter overall, but .323/.392 versus the Fish. In 2016? A rather dismal .269/.346 on the season, but .309/.392(again!) when it came time to play the Marlins. Same story in 2017: a respectable .275/.354 mark across the board, but an All-Star level .302/.371 whenever he met up with his favorite punching bag. Impressive stuff. Still in shock about that .392 OBP in consecutive years.

Admittedly, much of the annoyance likely stems from the fact Miami was attempting to contend in those seasons. Particularly in 2016 and, where flipping the script on Miami’s paltry 7-11 and 8-11 marks against the Braves changes the narrative dramatically for those campaigns. In contrast, you could only get so angry when someone played well against a tanking team.

Nevertheless, Markakis did beat up on Miami in 2018 and 2019 too, even if he did finally start putting up numbers slightly worse than his overall stats. He also tended to start playing better against the Mets at this point, becoming more democratic in his mistreatment of NL East foes. Still, a .295/.345 line in 2018 hurt, and a ridiculous .422 OBP in 2019 just drove me nuts.

Finally, in 2020, Markakis looked mortal at last. Yet even with a paltry .231 batting average, you can probably guess which team Markakis recorded more RBI (4) against than any other in the short season. Yeah…he’s just that kind of a guy.

Now, I’m not suggesting the Miami Marlins only had a winning season and a playoff berth because Markakis stopped looking like Superman whenever he faced them.

But I’m not not saying it either.