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Season of promise ends in tragedy for Marlins
- Updated: October 3, 2016
MIAMI — A season of promise and progress ended on an unimaginably tragic note. For all the gains the Marlins made on the field, it’s the death of Jose Fernandez in a boating accident on Sept. 25 that casts a dark cloud over 2016.
Fernandez, a two-time All-Star, embraced the role of ace. He stepped up, as did many other Marlins and the club remained in Wild Card contention until the final week of the season.
From the start of Spring Training, first-year manager Don Mattingly did so much to change the culture in the organization. He made no excuses, kept his team looking forward, and the players responded. But nothing could prepare the organization for what happened in the early morning hours of Sept. 25 off Miami Beach.
Although the Marlins were mathematically in the Wild Card chase until late September, in reality, they began slumping in early August.
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“I think in August, we really seemed to run out of gas,” Mattingly said. “I think in the second half, after the break we get to nine over. Then, from there, we just didn’t play that great of baseball. There was a time there where we weren’t really scoring.”
Record: 79-82, third place, National League East.
Defining moment: The day after Fernandez died, the Marlins — all wearing No. 16 Fernandez jerseys — bonded as one and defeated the Mets, 7-3, in the most emotional game ever played at Marlins Park.
The symbolic moment of the night came in the first inning, when light-hitting Dee Gordon, stepped up to the plate from the right side “because Jose liked to hit as much as he liked to pitch.” He took one pitch, a ball from Bartolo Colon, before flipping to his natural left side.
Two pitches later, it became a storybook moment. Gordon blasted a home run — his first of the year — into the second deck in right field and sobbed as he circled the bases.
Postgame, the team …
