Little fish make splash in big pond

Marlins rallying together after disparaging comment

MIAMI — Their T-shirts say Bottom Feeders, even though theMarlins are showing they’re a different kind of fish in 2020 — the sort that rises to make a splash.

The surprising Marlins have advanced to MLB’s final eight, disproving disparaging adjectives so often applied to the longsuffering franchise by detractors. That includes the opposing-team broadcaster who described the Marlins early in the season as “bottom feeders.”

Instead, they made the playoffs for the first time since 2003, swept the Cubs in thisweek’s wild-card round, and advanced to the best-offive NL Division Series to face the Braves beginning Tuesday inHouston.

“I don’t think we’re going to be satisfied,” manager DonMattingly said. “We’re going to be looking to win.”

Don’t count them out: This is a franchise that tends to be an also-ran in the summer but dominant in October, with a 7-0 record in postseason series. That includesWorld Series titles in 1997 and 2003.

After holding the Cubs to one run and nine hits in two games, the Marlins posed for a team photo in theWrigley Field infield. A few players wore masks, the rest wore grins, and allwore Bottom Feeders T-shirts.

“It’s a mindset,” said first baseman Garrett Cooper, whohit apivotalhomerinThursday’s

2-0 win. “You take that to heart and you try to stick it to everybody, becausewe don’t get the respect we think we deserve. It’s a great mantra, because it shows everybody is riding on the same train.”

By bouncing back from a 105-loss year in

2019, and then froma coronavirus outbreak in July that sidelined more than half the team, Derek Jeter’s Marlins have earned some respect.

Nonetheless, they’re the biggest underdogs in next week’s round, partly because the Marlins have been the Braves’ perennial punching bag in theNLEast.

The Braves went 29-9 against the Marlins in 2018-19. Coincidentally, on Sept. 9 they beat theMarlins by that same eye-popping margin:

29-9.

The Marlins won four of 10 games against the high-scoring Braves this year.

“They’ve run this division for a few years now,” Cooper said. “They have that offense, and some good pitching. But anything can happen. They knowus; we knowthem.”