'Bottom-feeding' Marlins are making a splash in playoffs

MIAMI (AP) — Their T-shirts say Bottom Feeders, even though the Miami Marlins are showing they’re a different kind of fish in 2020 — the sort that rises to make a splash.

Surprising Miami has advanced to MLB's final eight, disproving disparaging adjectives so often applied to the long-suffering franchise by detractors. That includes the opposing-team broadcaster who described the Marlins early in the season as “bottom feeders.”

Instead, they made the playoffs for the first time since 2003, swept the Chicago Cubs in this week's wild-card round, and advanced to the best-of-five NL Division Series to face the Atlanta Braves beginning Tuesday in Houston.

“I don’t think we’re going to be satisfied,” manager Don Mattingly said. “We’re going to be looking to win.”

Don't count them out: This is a franchise that tends to be an also-ran in the summer but dominant in October, with a 7-0 record in postseason series. That includes World Series titles in 1997 and 2003.

After holding the Cubs to one run and nine hits in two games, the Marlins posed for a team photo in the Wrigley Field infield. A few players wore masks, the rest wore grins, and all wore Bottom Feeders T-shirts.

“It's a mindset,” said first baseman Garrett Cooper, who hit a pivotal homer in Thursday's 2-0 win. “You take that to heart and you try to stick it to everybody, because we don’t get the respect we think we deserve. It’s a great mantra, because it shows everybody is riding on the same train.”

By bouncing back from a 105-loss year in 2019, and then from a coronavirus outbreak in July that sidelined more than half the team, Derek Jeter's Marlins have earned some respect. Nonetheless, they're the biggest underdogs in next week's round, partly because Miami has been Atlanta's...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Bottom-feeding-Marlins-are-making-a-splash-in-15618923.php