Biggest Changes for the Miami Marlins Since Opening Day
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The Miami Marlins started off the first week of the season with a lot of excitement and determination. Opening Day was spectacular for the team and city. Lately, the team has lost three of its last seven games.
Unexpected changes are bound to happen when there's a 162-game season. The Marlins have witnessed many roster changes and a plethora of injuries.
Miami lost another game to its division rival, the Atlanta Braves, and is now three games behind them for first place in the NL East.
Marlins Have Experienced Significant Changes in More Than One Area
The Challenges of an Everyday First Baseman
It's important to start with one of their main offseason weaknesses: the first base position. The Marlins went out to pursue Christopher Morel, who is a very talented hitter. He's not the most experienced first baseman in the market, but he put in the time and effort to work in that department.
What the Marlins didn't expect was to have him on the injury list so early in the season. Morel went down with an oblique strain injury. It forced the Marlins to pivot and bring guys from the minor league system. The first person that came to mind was Devyison De Los Santos. He made a good impression in his MLB debut, but that didn't last very long. The Marlins sent him back to the minors, and now he's also on the injury list. De Los Santos suffered a hand injury on April 15 after a walk-off home run celebration.
Two players from the first base position down. The Marlins are still testing options for that position, but as of right now, Connor Norby is holding it down. He's playing solid defense at first. At some point, the Marlins will shift to Liam Hicks and Graham Pauley.
Inconsistency on the Road
Road games have been a major problem for the Marlins so far. The team has gone 2-7. In the first three weeks of last season, the Marlins went 3-5 on the road. The problems began during their weekend series against the Detroit Tigers. The Marlins got swept on the road, and they couldn't shake it off after that.
Back-to-back road series losses to the Tigers and now the Braves are not a good look for this young Marlins team. Their pitching has been inconsistent. The upside for the Marlins is that they will return home for a six-game homestand starting on Friday against the NL Central teams, the Milwaukee Brewers, and then the St. Louis Cardinals.
Their next road series won't happen until April 24, when they begin a six-game West Coast trip, starting with the San Francisco Giants and then the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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After graduating from City College of New York in 2014, Miguel created his own blog. Since 2021, he has written for FanSided, where he covered the Toronto Blue Jays, College Football and Utah Mammoth hockey team. He also wrote for Miami Heat on SI and Cleveland Sports Talk. Miguel is the creator and host of his podcast, Baseball Heat Podcast with Mike.