Marlins clinch playoff spot after full MLB season for first time in 20 years

The Miami Marlins clinched a playoff spot in a full 162-game season for the first time since 2003 on Saturday night with a 7-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit his 19th home run of the season and Josh Bell had a two-run double as the team clinched a playoff spot. The Marlins made the postseason in 2020 but the playoffs were expanded due to the shortened season over the coronavirus pandemic.

“I feel like we’re just the biggest family in the league,” Chisholm said after the game. “I feel like nobody is as connected as us as a team. I feel like when someone gets going, everybody gets going. That’s the plan here and we’re just family and we’re coming in together.”

In a full season, the Marlins have made the playoffs twice before and won the World Series each time. Miami defeated the Cleveland Indians in 1997 and the New York Yankees in 2003. In the shortened season, Miami was swept in the National League Division Series.

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“We’ve been living for six years with ‘Let’s Go Mets’ in our stadium all the time,” Marlins team owner Bruce Sherman said. “Mets didn’t finish. Yankees didn’t finish. San Diego didn’t finish. Payrolls three times ours and look what we did.”

There was little expectation for the Marlins to make any kind of noise. With young stars like Chisholm and Sandy Alcantara at the helm on the roster and Skip Schumaker as the manager, the team is thought to have a bright future. But the future came fast.

The Marlins entered September 67-67 and needed to fight teams like the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks to get the wild card. The team was 17-9 in September.

“This team has just exemplified heart and they know it,” Marlins GM Kim Ng said. “And I think that is the driver of this group.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.