How Marlins have shocked MLB, closed within half game of team with 3 times higher payroll

Miami Herald

30-06-2025

Something neat and thoroughly unexpected has happened smack in the middle of the Marlins' latest rebuild:
They won every game of a six-game road trip for the first time in franchise history. And instead of being the laughingstock of baseball, they've become a competent, gritty team with a lineup far more productive than anyone could have imagined.
Sunday's 6-4 win in Arizona gave the Marlins a sweep of the Diamondbacks, on the heels of a sweep in San Francisco, while pushing Miami's winning streak to seven overall and nine in a row on the road.
'How we played on this road trip, how we played in this recent stretch here, particularly the last couple weeks, for me, it's been outstanding,' manager Clayton McCullough told reporters in Phoenix on Sunday. 'We're getting so many contributions offensively. I think just our at-bat quality throughout games has continued to take steps forward.
'Our pitching as a whole has been terrific, and I think we're defensively playing just a much cleaner brand of baseball.'
What was expected to be a lost season has turned into something far more uplifting: a scrappy team, filled with prospects with light resumes, exceeding any reasonable explanations. Miami stands at 37-45 entering a six-game homestand that begins Tuesday against Minnesota (6:40 p.m., FanDuel Sports Florida).
An eighth consecutive win would be the team's longest since Miami moved to loanDepot Park in 2012. They've won seven in a row on four occasions since; until Sunday, the most recent seven-game streak happened in April 2022.
The Marlins are averaging 7.4 runs during this winning streak, best in baseball over that time. Their pitchers are allowing opposing batters to hit .226 during that stretch, which is eighth-best.
Despite fielding a roster with by far the lowest payroll in baseball ($67.8 million in spotrac), the Marlins don't have one of the six worst records in baseball and entered Monday only one-half back of 38-45 Atlanta, whose $209.9 payroll is the eighth highest.
At the epicenter of this eight-game streak has been several players motivated to prove they can be quality big-league starters, a group including outfielder Kyle Stowers, shortstop Otto Lopez, second baseman Xavier Edwards and catcher/designated hitter Agustin Ramirez, the top prospect acquired in last July's Jazz Chisholm trade with the Yankees.
Stowers – who has emerged as the Marlins' likely representative in the All Star Game July 15 in Atlanta – had two homers and eight RBI in the six wins against the Giants and Diamondbacks and is hitting .279 (.357 on base) with 13 homers and 43 RBI in 78 games.
Stowers' emergence has been heartening and something of a relief to the Marlins after he hit just .186 in 172 plate appearances following his acquisition from Baltimore last summer.
Lopez also is making a case to be a longterm piece of the rebuild. He has 15 RBI in his past seven games – the most for a Marlins hitter in any seven-game span since Hanley Ramírez did it in 2009.
Lopez, who began the season at second base before moving to shortstop, delivered clutch hit after clutch hit on the road trip, including a two-run single to turn a one-run deficit into a one-run lead in the eighth inning of Sunday's win in Arizona. He stands at .260 (.331 on base) with eight homers and 40 RBI in 67 games.
Edwards and Lopez flipping positions has augmented Miami defensively, and Edwards has continued to hit (.283, .358 on base).
Even after losing Griffin Conine in April to a season-ending shoulder injury, the outfield has been far better than expected, with Stowers flourishing, Dane Myers hitting .298 (.355 on base) and Jesus Sanchez delivering some timely hits and power (seven homers, 28 RBI in 62 games).
And then there's the curious case of outfielder Heriberto Hernandez, who signed with the Marlins as a minor league free agent in December, hit just .220 in 41 games for Triple A Jacksonville and has been unstoppable since his promotion to the majors (.333, .371 on base, two homers, 9 RBI in 20 games).
Ramirez, the rookie catcher, broke out of a slump with 11 hits during the six-game road trip and has 15 doubles, 12 homers and 33 RBI in 58 games, to go with a .255 average and .305 on base average.
Other players who were hardly household names also have contributed: Eric Wagaman entered last weekend leading all National League rookies in RBI (33) and all rookies with 19 doubles. Catcher Liam Hicks, a Rule 5 draft pickup last December, has flashed intriguing offensive skills (.277, .364 on base, 27 RBI in 141 at bats). Connor Norby (.243/.294) isn't getting on base enough but has 23 RBI in 61 games and the Marlins' love his upside.
Aside from a strong recent stretch from Edward Cabrera; the starting pitching has remained uneven. Sandy Alcantara allowed seven runs in six innings against Arizona after four consecutive good starts. Cal Quantrill (5.42 ERA) has been middling, Eury Perez (6.19 ERA) needs more time to round into form after Tommy John surgery, and Janson Junk has had one good start and one subpar one.
Max Meyer (hip) and Braxton Garrett (elbow) will miss the remainder of the season and Ryan Weathers (left lat strain) is weeks away from an earliest potential return.
But the bullpen has been a positive, including good work from Anthony Bender (2.27 ERA), Ronny Henriquez (2.93, three saves), Calvin Faucher (4.31, eight saves) and Cade Gibson (.210 ERA).
And the big picture is this: The Marlins have been far more competitive during the early stages of another rebuild than most expected.
'It's exciting to see what we're doing,' Lopez told MLB. com on Sunday. 'I've been saying since earlier [that] we've got to put ourselves on the map, and right now, that's the way we feel. We feel very up, and we've just got to keep going.'