20-year Marliniversary: Fish hold off Mets to clinch postseason berth

In just their fifth year of existence, the Florida Marlins won the World Series in 1997. On this day 20 years ago, the Marlins clinched a return trip to the postseason.

To open the final series of the regular season, the Marlins clinched their second Wild Card berth. Florida held off the New York Mets, 4-3.

Against Florida starter Carl Pavano, it was the Mets who struck first at Pro Player Stadium on Sept. 26, 2003. An RBI double from Tony Clark got the scoring started in the top of the first, but that would be short-lived.

Derrek Lee drew the Marlins even with an RBI double of his own off Aaron Heilman in the bottom of the inning. In the third, a sacrifice fly from Ivan Rodriguez put the Marlins ahead for good.

After Lee doubled the Florida lead to 3-1 with an RBI single in the fifth, Jeff Conine ended Heilman’s night with a solo home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the sixth. The Mets, however, made things interesting in the eighth.

Trailing 4-1, the Mets used an RBI single from Mike Piazza and a sacrifice fly from Clark to cut the deficit to 4-3. Pinch runner Prentice Redman stole second base to put the tying run in scoring position, but Chad Fox was able to strike out Timo Perez on a 3-2 pitch to end the threat.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Mets used a pair of walks, a stolen base and a wild pitch to put runners in scoring position with two outs against Florida closer Ugueth Urbina. The first pitch to Roger Cedeno was skied to center. Juan Pierre made the catch just shy of the warning track to secure the National League Wild Card spot for the Marlins.

Pierre finished 3-for-3 with a run scored in the victory while Lee and Conine each had two hits. Piazza and Joe McEwing added two hits apiece for the Mets in the loss.

The Marlins would go on to win the World Series for the second time in 2003. Since then, the franchise has made just one postseason appearance (during the COVID-shortened 2020 season). The only time it ever clinched a playoff berth at home came on this day two decades ago.

Photo appeared in Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Mike Ferguson is a contributor for Fish on First, who covers Miami Marlins history. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson