‘Happy but not satisfied’ Marlins motivated to keep getting better
HOUSTON
They didn’t reach their final destination, their trip stopped short two series earlier than they hoped, but the Marlins still take pride in the journey that was their 2020 season.
They also know this was just one leg of a longer voyage, one that started three years ago and one they hope continues for years to come.
So yes, the Marlins’ 2020 season ended with a dud in the National
League Division Series. The Atlanta Braves, the “gold standard” of the NL East the past few years, swept the Marlins in the best-of-5 matchup at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.
But considering where they started in this pandemic-shortened season and what unfolded throughout, the Marlins found a way to raise the bar and make it known they are at a point in their rebuild where the results are going to come.
“This was the closest group I’ve had as far as a group of guys who fight and feel like they’re united in their stance in where they want to go,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said moments after their season-ending 7-0 loss, “and that’s really what we talked about. I’m really proud of this club and what they’ve been able to accomplish.”
They bonded over defying expectations and starting a new chapter in franchise history. They grew closer during a week-long quarantine after 18 players tested positive for COVID-19 and kept growing the connection even as players cycled onto and off of the roster over the course of a 60-game regular season and five playoff matchups. Miami ultimately made 174 roster moves, had 18 players make MLB debuts (11 of whom previously never played above Double A in the minor leagues) and used 61 total players.
They leaned on newly acquired veterans (Corey Dickerson, Jesus Aguilar, Brandon Kintzler, Francisco Cervelli, Matt Joyce), holdover players taking a step forward (Miguel Rojas, Brian Anderson, Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez) and rookies whose first taste of big-league experience came in a pennant race (Sixto Sanchez, Trevor Rogers, Jazz Chisholm, Monte Harrison, among others) to pave the way for a playoff push.
The end result: Miami went 31-29 through all the hurdles of the season, posting their first winning record since 2009. They went 21-19 in division play after going 24-52 against NL East opponents last year.
They swept the Cubs in the best-of-3 wild-card series, using seventhinning rallies to take 5-1 and 2-0 victories at Wrigley Field, before falling to Atlanta in three games.
“We did give ourselves an opportunity this year,” Mattingly said. “I think that’s a step froward for us. We’ve gotten a lot of young guys experience this year. We’ll have a tremendous amount of competition within our camp next year for jobs and who’s going to be where. This is just the start of it. One of our slogans a couple of years ago was ‘Just getting started’ and that’s what I feel like now.”
It was the first tangible sign of progress at the major-league level since the new ownership group led by Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter took over the organization.
The big-name trades, the building of the minorleague system and the offseason signings to supplement the internal growth all reflected in the win-loss column this year.
“You’re looking at a team that, outside of our clubhouse, there weren’t a lot of people that had expectations for us and our team believed that we had a good team,” Jeter said prior to the start of the playoffs. “We went out there and we played every single day to win.”
The Marlins closed the gap, but the work is far from over.
“We’re not where we want to be,” Jeter said, “because we’re always going to be trying to get better, but there is a belief there throughout our organization and confidence will take you a long way.”
The confidence is showing on the field and in the clubhouse. The team stayed steady throughout the season even as they faced hurdle after hurdle. They followed in the footsteps of Mattingly.
When they win, they celebrate and get ready for the next day. When they lose, they reflect for about five minutes and get ready to start a new winning streak.
They proved they can compete with the other contenders in their division, winning the 10-game regular-season series against both the Philadelphia Phillies (7-3) and Washington Nationals (6-4) while going 4-6 in the regular season against both the Braves and New York Mets. They took two of three against the Yankees and went 10-10 against the AL East.
This team isn’t a finished product. Many of the top prospects they hope to rely on, especially on the hitting side, are still works in progress.
But 2020 was a building block for what the team hopes will come in the future.
“At the end of the day,” Rojas said, “this is just the beginning of where we’re going to go. I feel like this organization, the things that we’re going to do here are going to be sustainable for a long time. ... We have to be happy but not satisfied. We got a taste of the postseason and we know how to play in the playoffs now. We have to use this as motivation to get better.”
After the strides taken this year, there are no excuses for the success to not continue. The Marlins know that.
And they know the challenge that comes as a result. They feel they’re ready for it.
“It’s not going to get easier for us. It’s going to get harder,” Mattingly said.
“We’ll have a full season of a lot of people saying we wouldn’t have been able to [make the playoffs in a regular 162-game season], so we’ll have doubters again next year and we’re going to have to go out and improve over the winter, get better and show ourselves again next season.”
The journey continues, the final destination still in sight.