Miami Marlins 2026 Offseason Guide: Important Dates, Schedule, & Calendar

The 2025 season was a step forward for the Miami Marlins. They finished with a 79-83 record, improving by 17 wins from the prior year despite one of the youngest rosters in Major League Baseball. Entering the 2025-26 offseason with ample payroll flexibility and a genuine belief that they're close to a playoff berth, the coming months will be very intriguing to follow.

This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the Marlins' offseason, highlighting key dates and events. It includes details on free agency, the Winter Meetings, the MLB Draft Lottery, the salary arbitration process and more.

To view the current Marlins 40-man roster, view our roster page, updated nightly.

Click any link below to jump to an explanation of that event/date.

2026 Offseason Dates & Calendar

• Immediately after the World Series: Eligible players become free agents, trade market opens
• November 6: Contractual options due, qualifying offers due, league-wide free agency opens
• November 10-13: General Manager Meetings
• November 18: Rule 5 draft protection deadline
• November 21: Non-tender deadline
• December TBA: Announcement of Competitive Balance picks
• December 7-10: Winter Meetings
  • MLB Draft Lottery
  • Rule 5 draft
• December 15: Closing of 2025 international signing period
• Mid-January: Arbitration agreement deadline
• January 15: Opening of 2026 international signing period
• Late January: BBWAA Hall of Fame announcement
• Late January-early February: Arbitration hearings
• February 7: Marlins FanFest
• Mid-February: Spring training begins
• Late February: First spring training game
• March 4-17: World Baseball Classic
• March 25: MLB Opening Night (Yankees @ Giants)
• March 26: Opening Day (Rockies @ Marlins)

World Series

The 2025 World Series will conclude on Saturday, November 1. The offseason officially begins the moment the final out of the World Series is recorded. Players on expiring contracts immediately become free agents, though certain restrictions apply in the first few days that will be detailed later. The day after the World Series ends, teams can resume making trades for the first time since the midseason deadline, marking the official start of the MLB offseason.

5 days after the World Series

Free agency

As the offseason begins, free agents are permitted to negotiate exclusively with their most recent team for a five-day period. That window will close on November 6, after which point they are free to engage with all 30 MLB clubs.

The Marlins are one of the few teams who don't have any players slated to reach MLB free agency following the 2025 season.

Qualifying offers

Qualifying offers (QO) must be issued within five days of the World Series’ conclusion. The value of the QO changes annually, as it’s based on the average salary of MLB’s 125 highest-paid players from the previous season. For the upcoming offseason, that figure will be $22.05 million.

To be eligible, a player must have spent the entire previous season with one club and must never have previously received a qualifying offer. Players who receive a QO have 14 days to decide whether or not to accept it. If a player declines a QO and signs elsewhere, their former team receives draft-pick compensation. The specifics of that compensation depend on factors such as the team’s market size, revenue-sharing status and the value of the player’s new contract.

The Marlins have never extended a qualifying offer to a free agent before and they won't be doing so this offseason.

General Manager Meetings

Roughly a week after the World Series concludes, all 30 MLB front office leaders gather for meetings to discuss league business and key offseason matters. While these sessions don’t typically draw much attention from fans, they often help establish the groundwork for trades and other transactions that take place later in the winter.

The 2025 GM Meetings will be held from November 10-13 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix is expected to attend.

Rule 5 draft protection

The Rule 5 draft takes place each winter (with the exception of 2020) and gives teams a chance to acquire unprotected talent from other organizations. Under Rule 5 rules, players who signed at age 18 or younger must be protected within five seasons, while those who signed at age 19 or older must be protected within four seasons. Teams protect these players by adding them to the 40-man roster, which can be a challenge in years when roster space is limited.

For the Marlins, several prospects will be under consideration for protection ahead of the November 18 deadline (6:00 p.m. ET) to avoid exposure in this year’s Rule 5 draft, which is scheduled for December 10. That group includes Joe Mack, Josh White, William Kempner, Andrew Pintar and Jacob Berry.

Non-tender deadline & arbitration

Players with between three and six years of MLB service time automatically qualify for salary arbitration. There’s also the Super Two designation, which allows a select group of players with just under three years of service to become eligible as well. Arbitration gives players still under team control a chance to argue for compensation that they feel reflects their on-field performance. If a team believes a player’s projected arbitration salary exceeds their value, they can non-tender the player instead of offering a contract. Although arbitration eligibility depends on service time, any player with fewer than six years in the majors can technically be non-tendered. Doing so immediately makes them a free agent, while also freeing up a spot on the 40-man roster.

Teams have until the November 21 tender deadline to decide whether to offer contracts to arbitration-eligible players. Once tendered, the two sides can continue negotiating a salary until mid-January. If no agreement is reached, the case proceeds to an arbitration hearing, where both sides submit salary figures, and a neutral arbitrator selects one. The arbitrator’s ruling is final and the player is paid that amount for the upcoming season.

Arbitration-eligible Marlins for 2026 (salary projections in parentheses)

• Edward Cabrera ($3.7M)
• Anthony Bender ($2.3M)
• Calvin Faucher ($1.9M)
• Braxton Garrett ($1.53M)
• Ryan Weathers ($1.5M)
• Max Meyer ($1.3M)
• Andrew Nardi ($800k)

Competitive Balance draft picks

Each offseason, Major League Baseball announces the Competitive Balance draft picks, which are designed to help smaller-market and lower-revenue teams maintain competitive balance across the league. These picks were first introduced in 2012 and are awarded annually based on a formula that considers a club’s market size, revenue and winning percentage. Eligible teams are assigned to one of two rounds: Round A, which takes place between the first and second rounds of the MLB Draft; and Round B, which falls after the second round but before the third. In addition to the extra pick, teams receiving a Competitive Balance selection also get a slightly larger international bonus pool to use during the international signing period.

In 2025, for example, the Marlins used their Competitive Balance Round A pick to select outfielder Cam Cannarella.

Unlike other draft selections, Competitive Balance picks can be traded once, though they cannot be exchanged solely for cash considerations.

Winter Meetings

Each December, high-ranking executives from all 30 organizations, along with agents, players and media members, gather for the MLB Winter Meetings, a four-day event that serves as the centerpiece of the offseason. This year’s meetings will take place in Orlando, Florida, from December 7-10. The Winter Meetings are where the bulk of offseason business takes shape. Trades, free agent signings, and major rumors often dominate the headlines during this stretch. Juan Soto stole the spotlight last year after signing a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets. He was joined in the headlines that week by Max Fried, who signed with the New York Yankees, and Garrett Crochet, who was traded to the Boston Red Sox.

If there is one point on the calendar when the most MLB transactions are likely to occur, this is it. In addition to roster moves, both the MLB Draft Lottery and the Rule 5 draft take place during the Winter Meetings, adding even more intrigue to one of baseball’s busiest weeks of the year.

Fish On First will once again be providing in-person coverage.

MLB Draft Lottery (December 9 at 4:00 p.m. ET)

In 2023, Major League Baseball introduced a draft lottery system designed to discourage teams from intentionally losing games to secure higher draft positions. Under this system, all clubs that miss the postseason are assigned odds to land one of the top six picks in the following year’s draft. The teams with the worst regular-season records still have the best odds, but the process now includes an element of chance rather than relying solely on reverse standings.

The Marlins entered the 2025 draft lottery with the second-highest odds of winning it, but they caught an unlucky break and were awarded the seventh overall pick. This time around, they have a 1.85% chance of winning—those are the ninth-highest odds. Due to anti-tanking restrictions, both the Rockies and Nationals are ineligible to select within the top ten, which pushes the Marlins' odds higher than they would've been otherwise.

The order of the postseason teams in the draft is determined by when they get eliminated, revenue-sharing status, and then winning percentages. Those 12 teams will choose in the following order: Wild Card Series losers, Division Series losers, Championship Series losers, World Series losers, World Series winners. Within each of those groups, clubs will be sorted by revenue-sharing status, with payee clubs selecting before non-payee clubs.

Rule 5 draft (December 10 at 2:00 p.m. ET)

Players who were not added to the 40-man roster by the Rule 5 protection deadline can be selected by another organization during the major league phase of the draft for a $100,000 fee. Teams are only allowed to make selections during the major league phase if they have openings on their 40-man roster. Any player drafted must remain on the selecting team’s active roster (or the MLB injured list) for the entire season. If the player is designated for assignment and clears waivers, they must be offered back to their original team for $50,000.

While Rule 5 selections rarely become stars, some develop into useful role players, such as the Marlins' 2024 selection, Liam Hicks.

The draft order is determined by the previous season's reverse standings, so the Marlins will pick 12th.

International signing period

The next international signing period begins on January 15, marking one of the most important avenues for MLB organizations to acquire young talent from around the world. Most of these signings come from Latin America, though teams also scout and sign players from Asia and other regions. During this window, clubs can reach agreements with foreign players who are 16 years or older. The range of signing bonuses varies widely. For instance, Eury Pérez signed with the Marlins for just $200,000 in 2019 and has emerged as one of the best talented pitchers in baseball, while highly touted prospects such as Jose Salas, who signed for $2.8 million that same year, never panned out. These examples show how unpredictable this market can be.

Each team operates under a hard spending cap, and this year, the Marlins have $7,357,100 available in their bonus pool. Bonuses of $10,000 or less do not count against that total. Many of these deals are informally agreed upon well in advance, as teams scout and build relationships with players years before they are eligible to sign.

The majority of the 2026 international signings will be announced on the very first day of the signing period, though the signing period officially runs through December 15.

BBWAA Hall of Fame announcement

Every January, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) announces its voting results for the newest class of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Players become eligible five years after retirement and can remain on the ballot for up to ten years, provided they continue to receive at least five percent of the vote each cycle. Earning election requires appearing on 75 percent of submitted ballots. If a player falls below the five-percent threshold, they are removed from future ballots and can only be reconsidered later by one of the Hall’s era-based committees. This year’s ballot lacks top-end HOF candidates but still showcases several notable names, including Cole Hamels and Ryan Braun, who are making their first appearance, and Manny Ramírez, who is entering his final year of eligibility.

Marlins FanFest

Marlins FanFest is an annual event hosted by the Marlins at loanDepot park in Miami. It serves as a kickoff for the season, featuring player meet-and-greets, autograph opportunities, interactive games and activities for all ages, discounted merchandise and team leadership appearances. FanFest traditionally takes place on the final Saturday prior to pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training.

Spring training

Marlins pitchers and catchers will report to Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in mid-February, with position players arriving a few days later to begin full-squad workouts. Spring training games will begin shortly after and continue for about a month as the team prepares for the regular season. The Marlins play in the Grapefruit League along with the other MLB teams who hold spring training in Florida. Due to the proximity of their spring facilities, Miami's most frequent opponents are the St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals, Houston Astros and New York Mets.

Dates for the Marlins’ first game and MLB’s Spring Breakout have not yet been announced, but both are expected to take place in the usual February/March timeframes. Spring Breakout will once again showcase each club’s top prospects in special exhibition matchups against other organizations’ best young talent.

The 2026 MLB regular season will officially begin on March 25, when the New York Yankees face the San Francisco Giants on Opening Night. Unlike the past few seasons, there will be no international series to open the year, with all games beginning in North America. Every team, including the Marlins, will open its season the following day as baseball returns in full force.

World Baseball Classic

As was the case in 2023, loanDepot park has again been selected to host games during every round of the World Baseball Classic. The tournament overlaps with the second half of spring training.

Pool D—comprised of the Dominican Republic, Israel, Netherlands, Nicaragua and Venezuela—will run from March 6-11, with the top two teams advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal games will be March 13-14, the semifinal games will be March 15-16, and the championship game will be held on March 17.

Current Marlins players Sandy Alcantara (Dominican Republic) and Otto Lopez (Canada) have prior WBC experience.