What a difference a couple weeks has made for the Miami Marlins.
Back on May 27th, despite a pair of brutal injuries earlier in the week, Miami was poised to win a series against division rival Philadelphia and reach the .500 mark for the first time in 2021. Even after dropping that game, the Fish sat only three games out of first place in a crowded NL East race.
And then they took a little road trip.
The trip was, it is fair to say, a disaster for these 2021 Marlins. They lost multiple starting pitchers to injuries. They scored 3 runs or less in six out of nine contests. The bullpen blew three leads. All good enough for a 1-8 record that dropped Miami to a head spinning nine games under .500 on the season.
Certainly, recency bias is real when it comes to perception of team and player performance. Still, it seems fair to ask the following in the aftermath of such a bleak stretch of games:
Was that the worst road trip in Miami Marlins history?
Dramatically depressing topic to be sure. But one needs something to do to fill the time now that the trade deadline looks like it’s going to be more foreboding than immediately helpful for Miami. Plus, I wanted to see if the past nine days really was as bad as it looked. Because it definitely felt like it might have been historically bad while it was happening.
In terms of straight wins and losses, the answer is no. That dubious honor goes to the defending but defrocked world champions in 1998, who did manage to pull off an 0 for 9. In twenty-nine seasons, so far, that was the only time a Marlins team managed to go completely winless on a road trip longer than seven games (On six occasions, they have gone either 0 for 6 or 0 for 7).
However, it’s not just about the wins and losses when it comes to making this call. Miami went 4-7 on an eleven game all-California trip back in 2014. Not bad…until you throw in that Jose Fernandez injury that knocked him out of action until mid-2015. September of that same season, they went 5-5 on another road trip….that cost them their MVP slugger, and consequently, their chance at a winning season.
Bottom-line, context matters here. I can tell you that the 1999 Miami Marlins went both 2-10 and 1-9 on a road trip at one point, but considering how terrible that team was, you’re probably just surprised they didn’t have a more awful trip. Ditto for the 1998, 2013, and 2019 clubs.
What follows then are, between context and record, the contenders for the worst road trip in Miami Marlins history. The trip that just happened does indeed crack the Top 5. Where does it fall though? Let’s find out.