What Has the Marlins Off to Such a Strong Start?

The Fighting Fish have continued to show teams around the league that they aren’t going to just flop over and let other teams push them around.

Coming off a season in which they surpassed all expectations with first-year manager Clayton McCullough, the Miami Marlins have continued the same momentum coming into the 2026 season, currently sitting right at .500 heading into Monday, April 13, and in second place in the National League East.

Many factors are to be considered when you begin to dive into how they have been able to roll the success over into the new season, but it should not be a surprise to anyone as to why they continue to scrap out wins late in ball games.

Now, we are well aware of the teams that the Marlins have faced to begin the season. Opening 2026 against the 2025 versions of the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox is likely to have fans dismiss the early-season success. However, the Colorado Rockies currently rank 19th in the league in team OPS, and the White Sox started the season hot with their new first baseman, Munetaka Murakami, making an impact from day one.

Stats updated prior to games on Monday, April 13

Is it the Schedule?

As I just mentioned, the start to the season for the Marlins could not have been scheduled any better if you were to look solely at the records of the Rockies and White Sox from the 2025 season. Cast those two series aside, where they were able to win five of the six total games between the two, and you run into the New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, and now the Detroit Tigers.

Though they dropped two of three in the Yankees series, they averaged a little over five runs a game in that series. The Reds series ended in a 2-2 split of the four-game series, but again, the Marlins continued to score runs against Cincinnati as well, scoring 18 runs total in the four games, and one of those games was a shutout.

This past weekend’s three-game sweep at the hands of the Tigers could very well halt momentum, but the division rival Atlanta Braves are next up on the docket, and a solid series against them could push the Marlins even closer to the top spot in the NL East.

Say what you want about the starting opposition they have faced, but handling business the way they have, and continuing to be pesky against teams seen as “better” than them, is going to keep them in the hunt going forward.

How About the Offense?

When you think about the Marlins’ offense, particularly in years past, slugging and OPS have always been something they have seemed to lack.

Well, what if I told you they currently sit fifth in all of baseball in team slugging (.394) and seventh in team OPS (.719)? Hitting the ball over the fence is still something they have to figure out going forward, but being able to put up numbers like this, despite only hitting a combined 11 home runs as a team, is something to be hopeful about as the bats continue to warm up as the season rolls along.

The Marlins currently have two qualified hitters whose batting average currently sits about .300 in Xavier Edwards (.350) and Otto Lopez (.327). Even if that’s the case, it is hard to argue against their best hitter being Liam Hicks.

Heading into Monday’s action, Hicks is hitting .279/.347/.512 with a team-leading three home runs and 13 RBI while serving as an oft-used backup catcher. Even if he entered the year with that designation, McCullough has done everything he can to keep Hicks’ bat in the lineup. He has split time between catcher, first base, and designated hitter so far. Even more impressive is that he continues to walk as much as he strikes out, currently sitting at three apiece.

Now, even though he isn’t qualified, the addition of Owen Caissie to the Marlins lineup has been EXACTLY what they have been looking for the past couple of years, and it is time to get him in the lineup, no matter what side of the mound the opposing pitcher is throwing from.

In his 14 games, Caissie is hitting .275 with a .525 SLG, two home runs of his own, and second on the team with 12 RBI. If you are someone who is mesmerized by the red and blue bars on Baseball Savant, you would be overjoyed by how much red is currently on his page.

The most impressive thing about these markers has to be the 98th percentile barrel rate he has put up so far. His Barrel% at 25 is just about double what he produced in the previous season, which he ended at 13.3%. He is consistently causing damage to the baseball, and it has been spread all over the field.

Griffin Conine recently went down with an injury that will seemingly have him out for an extended period of time, but when he was in the lineup, his .951 OPS was a difference maker for this lineup. It will be interesting to see how his production will now be recreated in their aggregate. Javier Sanoja‘s start cannot be ignored either. The super utilityman off the bench has a .342 average in his 39 ABs so far this season and continues to provide them with above-average defense at any position he is set to play.

Or Is It the Pitching?

We cannot start this conversation without immediately referencing the start of the year that Sandy Alcantara has had.

The former unanimous Cy Young Award winner is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career in his return from Tommy John surgery. Now, seemingly fully healed from the injury, and a full year removed, it looks as if he has returned to the same Cy Young caliber pitcher we all know for him to be.

His ERA was minute through his first three starts, but it raised up to “only” 2.67 after his outing on Sunday. Even that is a major improvement over where it had previously been dating back to 2023, but all of his expected stats show that what he is doing looks to be sustainable going forward. 2025 was full of uncharacteristic traits from Sandy, with him not getting chase and allowing a career-high 45% Hard-Hit rate.

2026 has brought the Fish with the much-needed caballo at the top of the rotation.

The rest of the rotation has not lived up to the expectations that they had coming in, but given that there was shuffling to it deep into spring training, it would not surprise me in the least if the likes of Eury Perez, Max Meyer, and the rest of the starters fall right into place. Let’s also not forget that they have Just Baseball’s No. 25 Prospect, Robby Snelling, carving up Triple-A right now. In 13 innings, he has a 2.77 ERA with a K/9 sitting comfortably above 15, and coming off an outing where he struck out 12 Norfolk Tide.

The big issue for the Marlins right now is their bullpen. As it currently stands, three arms are sporting an ERA above five. Tyler Phillips has been incredible for them thus far, rocking a sparkling 0.84 in the ERA column and having pitched the most innings of the bunch by a long shot.

The Marlins have usually been able to find success in their bullpen through the development of in-house arms.

How Sustainable Is It?

We have seen the Marlins start the season hot in the past. While those seasons usually began to fizzle out as they would approach mid-season, this season feels a little bit different.

The starting pitching has been great for them out of the gate. Having the confidence back in their Ace is a huge boost to overall morale and will be key to keeping them on track as the season continues forward.

The same goes for the hitting and the way they can piece together timely hits when it matters most late in games. Led by Edwards, whose 21 hits are tied for fourth-most in baseball, this lineup is one of the scrappiest of recent history for this team. It lacks the true power threat in the middle of the order, but when you have consistent threats at any point in time, more often than not, getting them on-over-in is what is going to be advantageous moving forward.

The bullpen would be my number one concern. The start to the season for their closer, Pete Fairbanks, has not gone according to plan. The box score numbers are a little skewed by the “opener” game he had on the day he was scheduled to go on the Paternity List, but his first two save opportunities were successful, so I tend to believe that ship will be righted soon. It’s up to the rest of the crew to pick it up a bit.

Lastly, and probably one of the more surprising, has been the managerial decisions. At this point, we are all aware of the recent decision made by McCullough to remove Sandy from his last start, in the ninth inning, that ultimately led to them losing the game. It goes beyond that, though.

Many of the faults of the bullpen can be placed on the shoulders of the second-year manager and how they have been deployed. All we can hope for going forward is that the poor decisions made in the past do not continue to linger in the back of his head. The same way that players need to forget and move on right after a play, pitch, or at-bat, managers need to live with the decisions made and learn from them.

Ultimately, this team might be even more fun to watch than the 2025 version of the Marlins. The pieces are in place for them to continue to grow together. A strong core on both sides of the baseball is going to be paramount in the team’s overall growth going forward. While a postseason berth may not be the result, a true fight into September again is not something we should rule out.