Weathers shoves in season-ending second act as Marlins sweep Jays

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart."

The opening lines to the late MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti's "The Green Fields of the Mind" are as symbolic to baseball as home runs, cracker jack, and the seventh-inning stretch. On this, the final day of the 2024 regular season, they seem to resonate just a tad bit more. 

The 2024 Miami Marlins—a club that used a record 70 different players—are no exception to this sentiment. In a season that commenced with an 0-9 start, the Marlins could have found themselves joining the likes of the 1962 Mets (though the 2024 White Sox may be the new barometer for historically bad teams). Instead, they preserved through injuries, trades, and the departure of their manager to retain a sense of respectability amid their fourth 100-loss season in franchise history.

Miami will enter the 2025 season with expectations of improvement with the help of injured rotation stalwarts Sandy Alcantara and Jesús Luzardo, plus a partial season of contributions from young phenom Eury Pérez.

On Sunday, 11 years to the day of Henderson Alvarez's no-hitter against the Tigers that put the lid on a previous 100-loss Marlins season, it was another pitcher to be excited about, Ryan Weathers (3.63 ERA), shutting down another American League club, the Blue Jays.

Starting his second consecutive season finale for the Marlins, Weathers proved his penchant for finishing strong, limiting the Toronto bats to just one run over 6 ⅓ innings of work in Miami's 3-1 victory to conclude the 2024 season. Weathers closed out the 2023 regular season with 6 shutout frames against the Pirates following Miami clinching an NL Wild Card spot. His latest effort saw him retire 16 of the final 17 hitters he faced, scattering just three hits, and a pair of walks while striking six. 

Despite the strong performance by Weathers, Miami had a 5.24 ERA from their starting rotation this year, the third-worst mark in franchise history. Their 27 rotation wins also represent the fewest in a 162-game season in club history.

Another name to be excited about heading into 2025, Jonah Bride, put the finishing touches on his breakout 2024 season with a pair of hits, including the game's first two runs with a first-inning single. 

"We played really good baseball at the end, and that's the energy we need to take into spring training," noted Bride, who finished with an .818 OPS in his 272 plate appearances, trailing only Xavier Edwards (.820 OPS) among Marlins players. Winners of five of their last six, Bride found himself at the heart of the action, authoring multi-hit games in four of the six contests that included three home runs. In September, Bride hit .312 with a .918 OPS, solidifying himself as a player to watch as the Marlins look toward next season.