Florida Marlins:

Still a very young team, the Florida Marlins have been experiencing a surprising amount of success in this amazing 2008 season. The Marlins are in second place in the National League East division right behind the Philadelphia Phillies with a great 40-35 winning record. Second-baseman Dan Uggla leads the Florida Marlins at bat with a solid 27 home runs and 57 RBIs thus far this season. First-baseman Mike Jacobs has also has a great start this season, the best in his young career, with a solid 17 home runs and 46 RBIs. On defense, pitchers Scott Olsen and Andrew Miller hold off the other teams from the mound. Olsen leads the team in innings pitched with 92 while Miller leads the team with 63 strikeouts thus far early this season. The Marlins look to catch the Phillies in order to get to the playoffs and hopefully go all the way to the World Series to take back the championship. Florida fans are eagerly anticipating the rest of the season, so tickets are selling fast as we get closer to playoff time in Florida.

The Florida Marlins have been in existence since 1993 and in those ten seasons they’ve already won more championships than anyone not named the New York Yankees. In 1997, their fifth season in the league, the team won its first World Series defeating the Cleveland Indians in seven games. During the off-season the team had a fire sale, and traded away or didn’t resign a majority of their core players because they didn’t turn a profit on their way to a World Series. In 2003, the Marlins made it into the postseason as a wild card team and defeated the San Francisco Giants in four games. In the NLCS they faced the Chicago Cubs and lost three of four games. They then took three straight from Cubs on the way to their second World Series. In the Series they faced the Yankees. In what looked to be déjà vu from the NLCS, the Marlins lost two of the first three games, but much like the series before the Marlins grinded out three straight wins capped off by a 5-hit shutout by pitcher Josh Beckett in hallowed Yankee Stadium.

The Marlins looked to keep the payroll low and talent high this season as they had it last year. They moved veterans Derek Lee and Juan Encarnacion. Lee went to the Cubs for first baseman Hee Seop Choi and Encarnacion to the Dodgers for a player to be named later. The fish also went out and got troubled closer Armando Benitez and let go of Ugueth Urbina.

The Marlins are definitely an “old school” team. They concentrate on getting guys on base, stealing bases and grinding games out with timely hitting, not home runs. They have arguably the best 1-2-3 combination in the league with center fielder Juan Pierre, second baseman Luis Castillo, and right fielder Miguel Cabrera. Pierre, thought by many to be the best lead-off man in the majors, and Castillo get on base at a very high rate and can both steal a base at will. Cabrera is the prototypical number three hitter, he can hit for average and power and he can also steal a base when called upon. Behind Cabrera are all star third baseman Mike Lowell, left fielder Jeff Conine, Choi, catcher Ramon Castro and Alex Gonzalez.

As good and young as their bats are, their pitching is just as good and just as young. The starters consist of Josh Beckett, Brad Penny, Dontrelle Willis, Carl Pavano and are awaiting A.J. Burnett’s return from Tommy John surgery. In the pen, Benitez is closing down the ninth, and has Matt Perisho and Nate Bump setting up for him. There is no question that the pitching staff has a huge part in keeping the team successful.
The Marlins have called Pro Player Stadium their home since they broke into the majors in 1993. In 1999, renovations had to be made to keep the stadium up to par with MLB regulations which included retractable seating on the north side of the stadium and new baseball dugouts.

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