At first glance, the Marlins’ 2026 season doesn’t scream progress. They won one more game than they did in 2025, and the divisional standings didn’t budge. But the deeper numbers tell a different story, and Miami looked far better than the record alone would suggest.
The clearest sign came in run differential. The Marlins finished at +3 in 2026, scoring 715 runs and allowing 712. A year earlier, they were outscored badly, putting up 709 runs while giving up 798.
That turnaround started with run prevention. Miami finished 13th in MLB with a 4.09 team ERA, a sharp jump from 2025, when the club ranked 25th with a 4.60 ERA.
A big reason for that improvement was the starting pitching. Sandy Alcantara, Max Meyer, and Eury Pérez all finished with ERAs under 4.00, giving the Marlins a front three they could lean on. Meyer made the biggest leap of the bunch, turning in a 2.68 ERA and 1.14 WHIP over 20 starts and emerging as one of the most effective arms in the rotation.
The offense did its part too. Miami ranked ninth in team OPS at .726 and finished third in the league with 37 triples. In 2025, the Marlins were 17th in OPS at .707, so the lineup moved into a much more productive tier.
Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards were among the hitters who took meaningful steps forward and helped lift the group as a whole. Not everyone moved in the same direction, though, as Jakob Marsee and Kyle Stowers both took a step back from their previous seasons.
For one month, everything came together. In June, the Marlins were one of the most dangerous teams in baseball, leading MLB with a 3.01 team ERA, ranking fourth with a .798 OPS, and winning 20 games, the most in the sport over that stretch.
That surge didn’t last. Miami fell back to earth after June, hit a long losing streak, and spent much of the rest of the season hovering around .500. Still, that month offered a clear snapshot of what this roster can look like when the pitching is sharp and the bats are rolling.
There’s still a long way to go before the Marlins are regularly stacking up with the Braves and Phillies in the National League East. Even so, the improved roster and much better run differential point to a team that may be closer to playoff baseball in loanDepot park than the final record suggests.
In Other News...
Marlins Face Two Tough Arbitration Calls That Could Trim 2027 Payroll
The Marlins are heading into another winter where arbitration decisions could shape more than just the next seasons roster. With 11 players eligible for salary arbitration next year, the club is expected to lean toward continuity on most of the group, according to MLB Trade Rumors projections, even as the bills start to climb for a team still trying to keep its payroll flexible.
Two names stand apart from the rest of the list: Andrew Nardi and Tyler Zuber. Miami is projected to non-tender both because of injury and performance concerns, a move that would cut into the total cost of the arbitration class, which is estimated at roughly $27 million for the nine players the Marlins are expected to keep in the process. [Read more 🡒]