At the beginning of August, when half of the Marlins team was in quarantine and people were debating whether their season should continue, rumors circulated about how Miami got all of these cases. Many thought that this was because the team went out to party in Atlanta before opening day. It was evident that there was negligent behavior and callousness about the protocols in place. Since many expected the Marlins to finish at the bottom of a tough division, it was expected that manager Don Mattingly was going to be fired after the season.
However, soon after their season resumed, the team got hot, and finished August at .500. Mattingly won his 282nd game with the Marlins on August 7th, a franchise record. They were beating the NL East teams that they needed to beat, taking many of their games against the Phillies, Nationals, and Mets. These games were mostly won by players they had signed off waivers and called up from their bountiful farm system, with guys such as Sixto Sanchez, Jazz Chisolm, and Braxton Garrett making their major league debuts in 2020 and becoming contributors. Seeing the opportunity to make the expanded postseason, they traded for Starling Marte at the deadline. They played .500 baseball for the month of September, which was good enough to get them the 6 spot in the postseason.
While this team probably would not have made the playoffs in a normal year, and it’s unknown what they will look like in 2021, what they have achieved this year is nothing short of miraculous. The NL East was expected to be the toughest division in baseball this year, and this was made more difficult with the outbreak. Yet, as they move on to the NLDS, there is one way that their effort should be commended: Give NL manager of the year to Mattingly. Yes, Jayce Tingler has had a spectacular year with the Padres but we knew what their talent would look like, and knew they were competitive. It’s hard to find a person who would’ve expected the Marlins to have made the postseason, whether it was before the season, or after the outbreak. Mattingly took a team of waiver claims and rookies and had them win a postseason series. This team is in the throes of a rebuild, yet gave a fanbase that has been scorned by bad ownership and money losses, something to be hopeful about for the future. Given the situation, Don Mattingly deserves the NL manager of the year award.
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