Miami Heat

A lot has been going on in Miami, Florida, and a great deal of it has nothing to do with how well the Marlins are doing.

As you probably know by now, the sale of the Marlins had been bobbing up and down beneath the regular season conflict for a few months. Jeffrey Loria had spent enough time running the franchise into the ground, and wanted to give it up before it got unprofitable for, you know, him. This week, somebody finally bit- a group headed up by the great Derek Jeter bought the Miami Marlins from Loria, and are looking to clean house (including president and last-place finisher on Survivor, David Samson). Things are shifting and moving in the front office, and all the while the Marlins have to keep playing baseball amidst all the instability.

And...they're doing alright?

Okay, they're second in the NL East, which is a feat they'd been hoping to reach since 2015, when the youth movement was just beginning to crop up. They'd been spending years in third, and after a week featuring the Mets getting swept, the Braves crumbling, and the Phillies...being the Phillies, the Marlins cemented a second place spot.

The only problem is that they're a smidge below .500, they're 14 games behind the first place Nationals, and 8 games behind the Wild Card contenders. So yeah...it's a pretty bittersweet outcome, the fact that they grab 2nd in the NL East the one year it doesn't amount for shit.

Even worse, Dan Straily and Jose Urena are singlehandedly holding up the pitching staff. The lineup's been fantastic, but the lack of pitching is keeping them under .500, and subsequently out of the conversation. And yes, both Straily and Urena are pretty good this year, but...two guys can't save a rotation. Ask Baltimore. They're in a similar rut right now.

So yeah, as much as I love Stanton's home runs, or the rise of Realmuto and Bour...I don't actually think they're gonna make a run at Arizona and Colorado for the WC spots. At least not successfully.

Coming Tomorrow- Last year he was indestructible, and the one DH that could have taken David Ortiz' crown. This year, in a friendlier city...he's still pretty damned good.