History of the Miami Marlins

The Miami Marlins, one of major league baseball's younger teams, has won the World Series twice in its twenty year playing history. Both times they won a position in postseason play by winning the National League Wild Card. Their best season was 1997, when they had 92 wins and 70 losses.

1991-1999

The Marlins became a major league franchise team in 1991. They started as the Florida Marlins, a name they would keep until 2012. They played in Hard Rock Stadium from 1993 through 2011.

The Marlins drafted their first roster in 1992, and they hired Rene Lachemann as manager. They played and won their first game on April 5, 1993. The team struggled in their first years and Lachemann was fired in 1995. Their only winning season was in 1997.

The Marlins ended the 1996 season in third place in the National League East division. At the end of the season, Jim Leyland became the new manager. Under Leyland's leadership and with new players, including Bobby Bonilla and Moises Alou, the Marlins won the National League Wild Card in 1997. They then went on to defeat the San Francisco Giants in the National League division playoffs and the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship series. They then defeated the Cleveland Indians to win the 1997 World Series.

After the 1997 World Series win, the owner of the Marlins, H. Wayne Huizenger, traded the team's best players and led the Marlins down the road to defeat. They ended the 1998 season with a 54-108 record and 1999 with a 64-98 record. They changed managers in 1999, hiring John Boles to replace Leyland. Boles continued to manage the team through 2001.

A key player for the Marlins in 1996 and 1997 was pitcher Kevin Brown. He led the National League in ERA in 1996.

2000-2009

The 2000 and 2001 seasons were better for the Marlins, with a third place finish in the National League East in 2000 and a fourth place finish in 2001.

In 2001, the Marlins were sold to Jeffrey Loria, owner of the Montreal Expos. Loria transferred the Expos' coaches and management to the Marlins and hired a new general manager, Larry Beinfest, and Jeff Torborg as manager.

The Marlins still had a losing record (79-83) in 2002, but they won the National League Wild Card in 2003. They again defeated the Giants in the division series, beat the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship series, and won the World Series against the New York Yankees. That year, the Marlins' manager, Jack McKeon, was named the NL Manager of the Year.

Although the Marlins had winning seasons in 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009, they couldn't win the National League East division or the Wild Card spot in a strong division. At the end of 2005, the team lost key players, including Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Carlos Delgado, in trades. They started the 2006 season with many rookies and the lowest team salary in the major leagues. McKeon managed the team through 2005, but he was replaced by Joe Girardi in 2006. Girardi managed the team for just one season. Surprisingly, he was named the NL Manager of the Year in a season when the Marlins had more losses than wins (78-84) and they finished in fourth place in the NL East division.

At the end of the 2006 season, Fredi Gonzalez was hired to replace Girardi. Under Gonzalez's leadership, the Marlins started strong, but struggled in the second half of the 2007 and 2008 seasons, ending in last place in the National League East in 2007 with 71 wins and 91 losses, and in third place in 2008 with 84 wins and 77 losses. They had a better season in 2009, with 87 wins and 75 losses and a second place finish in the NL East division.

Future Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez played with the Marlins in 2003. One of the rookies they brought up that year was Miguel Cabrera. He played with them until December, 2007, when they traded him to the Detroit Tigers. They acquired rookie Hanley Ramirez in November, 2006, in a trade that sent Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to the Boston Red Sox.

2010-2019

The Marlins have struggled in the current decade. They haven't had a single winning season, and in the 2017 off-season, most of their top players were traded in an effort to rebuild the team with prospects.

In 2012, the Marlins were renamed the Miami Marlins and they moved to a new stadium, Marlins Park. They finished in last place in the NL East division, with 69 wins to 93 losses. They had an even worse season in 2013, when they had 62 wins and 100 losses and were again in last place in the division.

The Marlins improved in 2014, moving up to fourth place in the NL East division with 77 wins and 85 losses. They managed to get to third place in the division in 2015 and 2016. The 2017 season had them in second place, with 77 wins and 85 losses.

Although the Marlins played better in 2017, new CEO and part owner Derek Jeter, in an effort to lower costs and rebuild the team, traded away three top outfielders. Giancarlo Stanton, who played with the Marlins from 2010 to 2017, and who won the NL MVP award in 2017, was traded to the Yankees on December 11, 2017. Three days later, Marcell Ozuna was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, and on January 25, 2018, the final member of one of baseball's best defensive outfields, Christian Yelich, was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers.

The rebuild clearly didn't help the Marlins in 2018, when they ended up again back in last place in the NL East division. They had 63 wins and 98 losses.

The Marlins had another poor year in 2019, finishing again in last place in the NL East division. They had just 57 wins to 105 losses.

In the years from 2010 through 2016, the Marlins changed managers six times. Fredi Gonzalez managed the team in 2010. He was replaced in 2011 by interim manager Ozzie Guillen. Mike Redmond followed in 2013, and he managed until 2015, when he was replaced by Dan Jennings. The 2016 season started with Don Mattingly as the new manager.

2020-2022

The shortened 2020 season proved to be a good one for the Marlins and Don Mattingly, who was named the NL Manager of the Year. He led the team to a second place finish in the NL East division with 31 wins and 29 losses. They won a Wild Card spot and they defeated the Chicago Cubs in that game with a score of 2-0. However, they lost the NL Division Series to the Atlanta Braves in three games.

In 2021, the Marlins went back to being less than a stellar team, finishing in fourth place in the NL East division. They had 67 wins and 95 losses that year.

The 2022 season was similar to the previous one for the Marlins, as they again finished in fourth place in the division. They had 69 wins and 93 losses. The one bright spot was the young ace of their starting rotation, Sandy Alcantara, who won the NL Cy Young award that year.

Sources for Information
Wikipedia - Miami Marlins
Baseball Reference - Miami Marlins