Record-setting home crowds and a historic June surge fueled Miami’s first positive run differential in sixteen years, yet a devastating July collapse ultimately derailed their postseason ambitions.
The Miami Marlins finished the 2026 season with an 80-82 record.
They defeated the National League East champion Atlanta Braves two out of three games in the final series to secure their one-win improvement from a year ago.
The Marlins won their 80th game of the season and secured their 47th victory at loanDepot park, setting a new record for wins in the modern venue that opened in 2012.
While the Marlins achieved the 10th, 80-win season in Franchise history, the 2026 season still left much to be desired.
2026 was the first season since 2010 the Marlins produced a positive run differential (+3), showing that even after building up a reputation of being a strong pitching program, they finally got the bats to match them.
It only took two seasons for Marlins manager Clayton McCullough to move up to sixth on the franchise's all-time managerial leaderboard with 159 wins, which is the most by a Miami manager since Jack McKeon led the Fightin’ Fish to the 2003 World Series.
McCullough had been criticized in the past for his use of the pitching staff and questioned on his lineup choices, but he pressed the right buttons when it came to the lost art of pinch hitting. The Marlins hit eight pinch-hit home runs, which were the second most in Major League Baseball.
The success of the Marlins season was defined by their unprecedented June bloom. The Marlins went 20-6 with a club-best +53 run differential.
The Marlins were represented by shortstop Otto Lopez and RHP Max Meyer at the 96th annual MLB All-Star Game in Philadelphia. Lopez was the Marlins’ first All-Star shortstop since Hanley Ramirez in 2010. Meyer was the first Marlins starting pitcher named an All-Star since Sandy Alcantara in 2022.
From June 1-July 9, the Marlins went from eight games under .500 (26-34) to a season-high 10 games over .500 (52-42). That helped the Marlins enter the All-Star break with 52 wins and firmly in playoff position, so it seemed.
A 12-game losing streak in July led the Marlins to sell at the trade deadline, sending Liam Hicks, their RBI leader, to the Tampa Bay Rays for prospects originally drafted by president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. There were a few moments afterwards in which the Marlins made it back to .500 and even slightly above, but ultimately, they never recovered from that skid.
Despite not making the postseason, the Marlins gave the community a reason to visit the ballpark, as they finished the season with a total attendance of 1,231,018, the highest season total since 2017. That alone is a strong sign of progress from Bendix’s rebuilding project.
One could only hope the next step gets the Marlins over the hump in 2027.
