The Miami Marlins are in a great position. Yes, even with the loss of ace Jose Fernandez for the year, the Marlins are in the right position. Not only are they only one game out of first place in the National League East, they are starting to look like a great all-around team.
On offense they have the front runner for the National League Most Valuable Player and unlike last season the players around him are starting to live up to their potential. Everyone knew that Giancarlo Stanton could perform with the best in the league, but his fellow outfielders Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich are starting to play like all-star caliber players. It takes a full team, though, and the Marlins front office did a good job of adding veteran pieces to help build around the young core of this team and two of those players, Casey McGehee and Garrett Jones, are having bounce back years to help this offense.
This team isn’t just offense, the pitching staff has stepped up in the absence of Fernandez and helped to lead this team to the point where they are night now. Over the last two seasons they have had their closer, Steve Cishek, has established himself as an upper echelon arm at the back end of the rotation. The real surprise has been the emergence of Henderson Alvarez as one of the most dominant arms in the National League. Alvarez has shut down the opposition lately allowing only one earned run over his last 26.1 innings pitched and he’s not alone as both Nathan Eovaldi and Tom Koehler have pitched well too.
One of the keys to this improvement in the rotation, and maybe one of the keys why the Boston Red Sox rotation has regressed, is the addition of catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Salty may not be producing on offense like they hoped he would, he is only batting .237 with 17 runs batted in, but he is helping the team with his veteran leadership to lead this pitching staff.
What really helps the case for the Marlins is the fact that the two teams that are perceived to be better than them don’t appear to want to win the division. The Atlanta Braves lost two starting pitchers and have an offense that is inconsistent and the Washington Nationals are struggling with consistency and injuries as well. If the Marlins can continue their solid start there is no reason to believe that this team can’t be like the 1997 and 2003 teams and be the surprise contender. This team right now, is for real, but I won’t be surprised if all of the stars are on new teams next season.