A Look At The Florida Marlins

In Major League Baseball, teams can qualify for playoff play even if they do not win their division. When a team does this, they are called a wildcard team. They have a disadvantage in that they are never given home field advantage during any of the playoff series. The Florida Marlins have been wildcards on two separate occasions and both times walked away with championships. This is not an easy thing to do and therefore the Marlins are a team worth talking about. Here we will talk about their history.

In 1993, MLB expanded. One of the new teams was the Colorado Rockies and the other was the Florida Marlins. The "Fish" play their games in Miami at Sun Life Stadium (which has actually had several names over the years including Dolphin Stadium.) In 2012, the tam will be playing in a new field, on the site formerly occupied by the Orange Bowl.

The first three seasons were dreadful for the club. In their debut year, they lost 98 games and came in dead last. But for the next three years, they would get progressively improved. Each year, they finished higher and higher in the standings. They inched to fifth, then fourth, then third. In 1996 they were just two games under . 500. This was cause for their fans to be hopeful about the future of their team.

From 1993 to 1996 things were bleak for the franchise. They finished their debut season in last place, losing 98 games. It is worth noting, though, that over the next few years, they got progressively better. They crept to 5th, then 4th, then 3rd. By 1996 they ended up only two games below . 500. This gave fans good reason to be hopeful about their team.

The Marlin team entered the series as a big underdog. The Indians had just beaten the New York Yankees in impressive fashion. The series was a good one, going all seven games. In an eleven inning final game, the "Fish" took the prize. They tied the score in the 9th and won in the 11th.

Fast forwarding to 2003, again they finished second to the Braves, and again made the playoffs. And once again they knocked of the Giants in the first round. This NLCS saw them play the Chicago Cubs. It was to be one of baseball's most memorable series. When it appeared the Marlins were going to lose the sixth game and the series, a Cub fan prevented a Cub fielder from catching the third out of the eighth inning. With new life the Marlins went on to win games six and seven to win the pennant.

Now, we said that Florida was an underdog in 1997. To say they were underdogs in 2003 would be an understatement. Up against the New York Yankees, nobody gave them the slightest chance of winning. The Yanks had just had an amazing and tiring series against the Boston Red Sox. Maybe that is what caused them to come out a bit flat. Whatever the reason, the Marlin pitching was right on target and the Fish took another championship.

More recently, they have been finishing in the middle of the division standings. The team payroll is among the league's lowest which probably has quite a bit to do with it.