The Miami Marlins were an expansion team back in 1993. They had a tremendously hot start winning the World Series in 1997 and 2003. Since then they only made the playoffs once and that was in the shortened 2020 season. They have been in a constant state of rebuilding since their World Series win in 2003. With a lot of upsetting and brutal losing seasons the Marlin fans are hopefully seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. 

The player that turns the most heads on the Marlins that has kept them relevant in the past few years is Jazz Chisholm. He was just honored with being named the cover athlete of MLB The Show 23. He was also elected to his first All-Star game, however he could not take part in it due to injury. We have seen little of the flashy star but we know he’s special. Although suffering from injuries he has a career OPS (on-base plus slugging) of .754 and a OPS+ (on-base plus slugging adjusted to the players’ ballparks) of 104. He is a team first player and it showed this off season when Miami traded for Luis Arraez. He is also a second baseman and Chisholm gave up his spot at second and said he will play center field for the team in 2023. When asked how many times he would win a gold glove in center field, he responded with, “depends how many seasons I play out there.” It’s safe to say that Jazz is confident in his skills.

The big trade the Marlins made this season was for last year’s American League batting champion Luis Arraez. They shipped away stud pitcher Pablo Lopez and a few prospects. Luis Arraez flipped a switch in 2022 finishing with a .316 batting average and .795 OPS. He was awarded the American League second baseman silver slugger award. This year he will take his talents to South Beach. Arraez is not the only second baseman joining the Marlins this year. They also signed free agent Jean Segura. At his age 32 season last year, Segura faced adversity including surgery on his broken thumb and having to split time with Phillies rookie Bryson Stott. Segura wasn’t as efficient after his injury so the Phillies decided to let him walk in the off-season and now Segura plans to play third base for the Marlins in 2023. The rest of the Marlins lineup needs some help but it definitely has potential to be great. 

The one great thing about the Marlins is their pitching. The obvious reason is Sandy Alcantara. The 6’5 right-hander had a breakout season last year that landed him his first Cy Young Award win. He had a 2.28 ERA (earned run average) in 228.2 innings pitched. We saw shades of prime Pedro Martinez from Alcantara as we watched hitters consistently struggle to put bat on ball. He features a filthy mix of pitches including a 92 MPH changeup he throws 27.7% of the time. The opponents batting average on the changeup is .145. If you thought that wasn’t good enough he also has a fastball that tops at over 100. On top of that he has a sinker that is over 100 MPH as well but just sinks into the ground when hitters least expect. 

Besides Alcantara the Marlins also have Edward Cabrera, Jesus Luzardo, Trevor Rogers, and Sixto Sanchez. They have young pitchers who have looked solid. Trevor Rogers was the rookie of the year runner up his rookie season. Edward Cabrera and Sixto Sanchez have been highly touted prospects for a long time now and it is now becoming a reality. The bullpen is the key to their success this year too. Last year they did not have good bullpen numbers. In 71 save opportunities they had 31 blown saves and a 4.15 ERA. If the bullpen steps up to this year they should expect to win a lot more games. The bullpen doesn’t have to step up and be a top 5 or even top 10 bullpen, but they need to step up and lock down the game when it matters most. The Marlins look to make an impact in their stacked division in the years to come and this is a crucial season for them. 

This is the end of the top 5 teams to watch series. Look out for future articles!