While the Miami Marlins were celebrating at Yankee Stadium on Friday, basking in the glory of clinching their first playoff appearance in 17 years, CEO Derek Jeter began making a round of phone calls. He wanted to personally thank the dozens and dozens of people who made this possible.
Once the team's celebration in New York started to subside, Jeter reached out to Don Mattingly, the manager of his club who navigated the Marlins through hurdle after hurdle during this 60-game, pandemic-shortened season. A COVID-19 outbreak, 18 MLB debuts, 61 total players, nearly 175 roster moves and a stretch of 28 games in 24 days to close the season couldn't deter the Marlins from their end goal.
"I think the first thing that I said to Donnie," Jeter said, "was now you can exhale for at least a day or two and relax. It's been a year where it seems like every game, you're on the edge of your seat and it seems like every game we're playing was a must win, must win, must win."
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Jeter can take a deep breath, too. The Marlins are nearing the end of Year 3 of this rebuild that he helped orchestrate, one that saw the team ship off its big-name players and endure two of the worst years in franchise history in return for an attempt to create organizational depth and an opportunity for sustained success.
The results are finally showing at the big-league level, and the upswing has begun.
The Marlins complemented a roster with up-and-coming everyday players and top prospects getting their first taste of big-league action with veterans who had postseason experience. They were buyers at the trade deadline, grabbing arguably the top position player available without having to sacrifice prospects along the way.
They went 31-29 this year, their first winning record since 2009.
And they're in the playoffs, beginning with a best-of-3 wild card series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
For the first time in a long time, the results on the field are matching the internal optimism.
"When you walk into the locker room," third baseman Brian Anderson said, "you feel like you have a chance to win each day. That's something that I haven't really been able to be part of and is something that I've enjoyed about this season."
