20-year Marliniversary: Marlins make history by evening record in Milwaukee

With a team full of rookies and a first-year manager in Joe Girardi, the 2006 Florida Marlins were expected to be one of the worst teams in baseball. With less than a month left in the season, however, the Marlins found themselves squarely in the postseason race.

On this day 20 years ago, the Fish made history. Once 11-31, the Marlins became the first team in baseball history to get back to .500 after falling 20 games below. They evened their record with a 10-3 road win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

With a record of 67-68, the Marlins were looking to complete the three-game sweep of the Brewers as they arrived at Miller Park on Sept. 3, 2006. For the early parts of the contest, pitching dominated.

After Hanley Ramírez led off the game with a double and scored the first run on a Miguel Cabrera’s RBI single, Florida’s Scott Olsen and Milwaukee’s Tomo Ohka traded zeroes for the next 5 ½ innings.

Still 1-0 in the top of the seventh, Olsen created some breathing room for himself by singling home Miguel Olivo to double the lead. Olsen scored on the very next pitch, coming all the way around from first on an RBI double by Ramírez.

Up 3-0, Olsen finished his day by working out of trouble in the seventh. In seven shutout innings, the Florida lefty allowed just one hit and two walks while fanning seven. Following a quality start from Ohka, the Marlins blew things open against the Milwaukee bullpen with seven runs in the eighth.

After a Cabrera double and a walk to Josh Willingham to open the inning, an error at second with one out served as the catalyst for the big inning. Olivo singled in Cabrera on the very next pitch before Alfredo Amézaga made it 6-0 with a two-run single. Ramírez and Cabrera would each add two-run doubles later in the inning to extend the lead to 10-0.

Milwaukee was able to break up the shutout with three runs in the bottom of the eighth, but the damage had been done. Ramírez finished 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Cabrera added three hits and three RBIs. Olivo and Amézaga each finished with two hits. Jeff Cirillo had two of the five hits and an RBI for the Brewers.

After moving to 68-68, the Marlins would get as many as two games over .500 but a dismal stretch in which they lost 11 of 14 ended their postseason hopes. Despite that, Florida remains the only team in Major League Baseball history to even its record after falling 20 games below .500. It did so on this day two decades ago.