Marlins leadership, key players celebrate and reflect on postseason berth

Kim Ng and her staff have done something this Marlins franchise hasn't done in over 20 years: clinch a postseason spot in a 162-game regular season. The Marlins beat the Pirates on Saturday night, cementing their place in the 2023 postseason.

The Marlins celebrated in the middle of the diamond of PNC Park after closer Tanner Scott recorded the final out of the game. "We have a great group of guys, great people that we acquired, our bullpen, our stars, it's just been great all year," said Scott in the celebration.

This will be the second postseason appearance for Miami since principal owner Bruce Sherman bought the team in 2017. However, he considers this year's much more meaningful.

"2020 was nice, but this is far superior," Sherman said. "In 2020, there were no fans. It was a 60-game season, it didn't mean the same. 162 games and still, here we are!"

The Marlins entered 2023 under a new voice. Sherman and general manager Kim Ng interviewed a lot of candidates this offseason for their managerial vacancy, but landed on Skip Schumaker. To say that the move has paid off would be a massive understatement—tactfully maneuvering in close games, Schumaker has won 15 more games than his predecessor did and figures to be a contender for NL Manager of the Year.

"I've known Skip for less than a year, and the moment he walked in, after about an hour, I knew he was going to be our manager," Sherman said in the clubhouse as he wore protective goggles to shield his eyes from the champagne and beer. "We saw a couple of candidates, and he was great. He managed the way you saw, which is one game at a time, and the motivation he got from these guys is unbelievable."

It certainly has been a culture change in Miami with Skip at the helm, which is precisely what Kim Ng was looking for. "Having watched him as a Major League player, there was a lot of grit and resilience, and that was the kind of profile we were looking for with our manager."

Just three years after taking over, she has done the unthinkable and built a postseason team from the ground up. The only players who were on the Marlins 40-man roster when she arrived and remain there now are Sandy Alcantara, Jon Berti, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Braxton Garrett, Jesús Sánchez and Sixto Sánchez.

"These guys deserve all the fun that they are having right now, but there's more work to do, and I think they know that," Ng said while Tanner Scott poured beer on her head. "That's why I f****** love him."

After a shaky Spring training, Miami quickly showed the baseball world that they meant business in 2023. Ng noticed, and instead of subtracting from the roster at the trade deadline like in previous seasons, she pushed in all her chips and acquired a few big pieces, including David Robertson, Josh Bell, and Jake Burger.

"There wasn't any one move," Ng said. "It's always just been building blocks, and it takes one block at a time. So we never know when it's all going to come together, but honestly, this staff has just done an incredible job get the most out of this group of guys."

"I feel like I'm on a cloud," trade acquisition Josh Bell said. "I couldn't be more proud of the guys, couldn't be happier to have this opportunity to play for this team. We have such an awesome room of guys, and to close it out and be able to celebrate tonight, it's something special."

Bell, the former Pirate, was able to celebrate on the field that he called home for the first five years of his career. "It's crazy. Stalls [stallings] and I looked at each other and I couldn't write a better script than that. I thought I'd be able to celebrate here years ago, but just to be able to do it now is awesome."

Someone who called Bell one of his closest teammates was Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was celebrating the second playoff clinch of his career (2020).

"I didn't even think about 2020 at all. All I was thinking about was winning this game tonight and getting us to the playoffs. Tonight is nothing but a celebration for our team. We're a family, and we're coming in together," Chisholm said.

On Saturday night, Chisholm went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI, highlighted by a go-ahead solo home run in the third inning. It all felt like a blur to him: "I don't even remember that, to be honest. I completely forgot about that. Once we were winning, I was just happy. It didn't matter what I did, it's just about going out there and winning a baseball game to get to the playoffs."

Against all odds, they got there. With the eighth-lowest payroll in all of baseball ($101M), they outplayed their pricier counterparts.

"Mets didn't finish. The Yankees didn't finish. San Diego didn't finish, and these guys have payrolls three times higher than ours," said Sherman.

"Spring training didn't look so great, I'll be honest with you," Schumaker said post-celebration. "Got to give credit to my staff. They were incredible, and we felt we were all very aligned with what we wanted to do and create here. This only happens if the players buy-in. Soler, Sandy, and Arraez all bought in right away, and I'm thankful for that."

Going into Sunday's regular season finale, Miami is 84-76, good for sole possession of the second NL Wild Card spot. They're now ahead of Arizona by half a game after the Diamondbacks fell to the Astros on Saturday night.

As Schumaker reiterated, the job is not done. The Marlins will play a postseason game on Tuesday against either the Philadelphia Phillies or Milwaukee Brewers. On Sunday, all of Major League Baseball will play game No. 162 simultaneously at around 3 p.m. Eastern time. In addition, it was reported by Bob Nightengale of USA Today that Miami will not need to travel back to New York to complete their suspended game from Thursday night.

Luzardo celebrates

Jesús Luzardo celebrated two things on Saturday night: A postseason berth and his 26th birthday.

"Best birthday gift of my life. I woke up today, and I said if we clinch, it'd be the best birthday of my life. So I can't even put it into words. This is the best night of my life," said the southpaw.

Growing up a Marlins fan, this is a dream come true for Luzardo, who is expected to be handed the ball for Game One of the NL Wild Card Series on Tuesday.