No player inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame has ever done so representing the Miami Marlins. That much is common knowledge to anyone reading this, and to much of baseball fandom. Fve players- Andre Dawson, Mike Piaza, Tim Raines, Ivan Rodriguez, and Ichiro Suzuki- enshrined in Cooperstown suited up for the Miami Marlins at some point in their careers.
The Marlins haven't finished higher than third in the NL East over the past five seasons, but they come into next year with optimism in the starting lineup. Kyle Stowers broke out last year, while Jakob Marsee excelled in his first taste of big league action, solidifying the outfield group. Agustin Ramirez finished sixth in NL Rookie of the Year voting and provided thump at catcher and DH.
The Miami Marlins should spend more money on payroll. In other news, the sky is blue. The grass is green. One should try to avoid the Dolphin Expressway during rush hour. All of these things are equally true, but if saying them aloud makes you feel better, have at it. You'll never hear me disagree, as many, many articles of mine over the years can attest. South Florida baseball fans have been wronged by the Marlins for decades on that score.
Right-hander Tyler Zuber is heading back to the Marlins on a minor league deal, according to the transaction log on his MLB.com profile page. Zuber was outrighted off the 40-man roster in early November. Since he had been outrighted before in his career, he had the option to elect free agency, which he exercised. Miami grabbed Zuber off waivers from the Mets in early July. He gave up two runs over two innings in his lone appearance with New York.
The Marlins and right-hander discussed an extension earlier this year, according to reporting from Will Sammon, Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic. However, they didn't come close to getting something done. These talks occurred when the team approached the righty's representatives in the spring and the two sides were about $15MM apart, according to Isaac Azout of Fish on First. Both Azout and Christina De Nicola of MLB.com say that the talks are expected to continue this offseason.
The team did lose former first base coach Clayton McCullough, who was named manager of the Miami Marlins after the 2024 season. McCullough was replaced by Chris Woodward, who returned to the Dodgers organization in 2023 after a stint as manager of the Texas Rangers. It appears the Dodgers are losing another member of their coaching staff to the Marlins as catching coordinator Craig Driver is set to be named Miami's new first base coach, via Craig Mish of SportsGrid:
"We have put ourselves in a position based on the improvement we made in 2025," Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said, per The Athletic. "We think we can put together a really exciting team for 2026 and also continue our quest to build a foundation of talent at all levels that will allow us to stay good for a long period of time."
All in all, you can't call the 2025 Miami Marlins anything less than a roaring success. The 2024 model of the Marlins went 62-100, and then proceeded to deal away their most productive offensive player in the offseason. To finish seventeen games better at 79-83 just a year later, and to do so without a ton of splashy free agent signings or promotions of generational prospects, is remarkable.
However...there is the small matter of Coors Field to deal with. Playing in Colorado is baseball's great equalizer, with the only predictable thing about pitching there being how completely unpredictable the effects of altitude will be on a particular pitcher's stuff. Seeing as how the strength of the Miami Marlins is their starting pitching, the playing field could be leveled considerably this week.
With just two weeks to go in the 2025 MLB season, the Miami Marlins can still do it all. Savor that fact for a moment, Marlins fans. It's mid-September, possibly late September by the time you are reading this, and your favorite baseball team hasn't been eliminated from anything. They can still have a winning season. They can still make the playoffs! That's certainly a far cry from what most fans predicted coming into this 2025 season, myself included. What a time to be alive! The rebuild is well underway, and ahead of schedule.
After Wenceel Pérez's RBI double put Detroit ahead in the top of the 11th, López started the bottom half with an infield single that advanced automatic runner Joey Wiemer. Heriberto Hernández's RBI fielder's choice scored Wiemer before Johnston drove a slider from Rafael Montero (1-2) over the wall in right-center. It was Johnston's first career multi-homer game. Josh Simpson (3-2) got the last two outs in the top of the 11th for the win.
Let's get the obvious out of the way: "Toy Cannon" is the coolest nickname in Miami Marlins history. Coolest, and the most apt. For Cody Ross was exactly that, an explosive, seemingly secret weapon for the Marlins. Long before cousin Trevor Rogers toed the rubber for the Miami, the team's original Pride of Carlsbad patrolled the outfield from 2006 to 2010- sometimes as a fourth outfielder type, sometimes as locked in starter.
While the Miami Marlins rebuild might be finished sooner than expected, the Marlins remain far from a finished product. If you wanted to tell the story of the 2025 Miami Marlins in a single sentence, the above would get the job done. If you want to think of them as a homework assignment, "shows promise but needs improvement" is what will get scrawled across the top in red ink. Which is hardly an insult.
There were definitely plenty of fireworks in this most recent showdown between the Miami Marlins and the New York Mets. Pete Alonso continued his Marlin killing ways. Juan Soto continued being Juan Soto. Marlins manager Clayton McCullough continued to make puzzling pitching moves. Jakob Marsee continued to look like a star in the making. Agustin Ramirez continued to look like a guy that really, really shouldn't play catcher. In other words, plenty of potential storylines.
Enter Carlos Santana, recently released by the Cleveland Guardians. The former All-Star and Gold Glove winner has certainly lost a step offensively, but the defense is still very much there. That Gold Glove came as recently as 2024, after all, and he's been very good again defensively this year. Even with a dip in power and a paltry .225 BA, he can still be relied upon to work a walk when he needs to.
