MIAMI -- Every Major League ballclub begins the season with one goal: to pop champagne as the last team standing.
The overachieving Marlins had that dream officially squashed on Thursday night, but they returned the favor by eliminating the Mets in the final game of the regular season -- just like they did in 2007 and ‘08 -- in Sunday’s 4-0 victory at loanDepot park.
Despite fielding the Majors’ most inexperienced roster, Miami (79-83) won 17 more games than in 2024, marking the largest year-over-year improvement in a non-shortened season in club history, and the third best in MLB this season. From June 13 to the end of the season, the Marlins also recorded the sixth-best win percentage (.563).
“I consider [our season] a success [since] we set out to really try to improve as many as we could, across the board, player-wise, and I believe we did that to some extent,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “... We had a very hungry group of players that wanted to establish themselves as Major League players. They want to win here, and they were very motivated each day to get better. [I] do believe we look back on this, and think, a lot of guys that got opportunity, of course, became better players, better teammates.
“And so from that end, do see it as successful, and know that next year is going to be harder than this year, as crazy as that sounds. We're going to have to play better. We have to play more consistently. Those same individuals who took steps this year have to continue to take steps, and we need others that are going to come up and compete for opportunity to be ready and come up and contribute.”
Leading the way was right-hander Edward Cabrera, who capped his breakout campaign with five scoreless innings. Though Cabrera walked a season-high five batters, he avoided a blowup in two key situations -- something he admitted wouldn’t have been possible from him in years past.
In the third with a pair of runners on, Cabrera induced an inning-ending double play from Juan Soto, who had taken him deep last month. After Cabrera walked the bases loaded in the fifth, McCullough stuck by his flamethrower with lockdown reliever Ronny Henriquez warming up in the bullpen. It paid off, as Pete Alonso ambushed Cabrera’s first pitch but lined out to left fielder Javier Sanoja. Four relievers would follow Cabrera to shut down the Mets, while three rookies – Eric Wagaman (double), Brian Navarreto (double) and Sanoja (triple) -- collected RBI knocks in the decisive four-run fourth.
“It shows this is a really special group,” Sanoja said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “Nobody was counting us to be eliminated with just three games left in the season. I think that we are building something special here. We're going to have to continue building that next year, and hopefully we can just continue that and just make the playoffs and just give that joy to all the fans here in Miami.”
The fact Cabrera even took the mound for the season’s final game is noteworthy. The last time Cabrera faced the Mets on Aug. 30, he wound up on the injured list with a right elbow sprain two days later. At the time, it looked like that might be it for the 27-year-old after he underwent testing and received multiple opinions on his arm.
Yet Cabrera, motivated by the club’s unlikely postseason push, came back during the season’s final week to make two more starts. Cabrera set single-season career bests in starts (26), innings (137 2/3), strikeouts (150), walks per nine innings (3.1) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.13). He completed at least seven frames in four starts after combining for just three from 2021-24 (61 starts).
From May 4 through Aug. 8, Cabrera -- whose name was the subject of trade rumors leading up to the Deadline -- boasted the third-best ERA in the NL and fourth-best in MLB (2.22), behind Cy Young candidates Paul Skenes (1.60), Cristopher Sánchez (2.06) and Framber Valdez (2.18).
“I will say it was a good one,” Cabrera said via Dorante. “I'm very thankful for this season. I think it was my best season with this team. The results are out there. I'm super grateful with God. Every time I went out there, I gave all I had and I felt like I was doing a good job. …
“All I can tell you is that this is a group of young guys that -- they're warriors. They don't give up. They battle like me every time we go out there. We just want to battle, and I think [if] we continue with that attitude, I think there could be great things in the near future.”