The Clayton McCullough Era as the skipper in South Florida has been an overall positive for the Miami Marlins' franchise, with two seasons that have nudged the team closer to respectability and a potential postseason berth in 2027.

With the club flirting with a National Wild Card slot for much of the year, there was new life in a team that seemed to be a dormant dinosaur in the final, almost-tragic season at the end of former manager Skip Schumaker's tenure with the team. Coming off that 100 loss season in 2024, president of baseball operations Peter Bendix has moved away from aging, veteran players in favor of a youthful roster and a re-stocked farm system.

Meanwhile, McCullough brought the ideals of a winning culture with him from his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers; he was the first-base coach on their 2024 World Series Championship squad. He would take the helm for the Fish a little over a month later.

That combination, along with the emergence of several star-caliber prospects, has Miami looking like one of the best young teams in baseball. Coming off an 80-82 mark this year, many are already picking them to take another step forward, starting next Spring. 

While the pitching staff needs to be fortified, current players have to continue to improve, and minor leaguers need to make the jump to the big leagues in order to make that happen, the biggest factor going forward is something that can't be measured in Miami. It's the attitude that the team has now. The swirling pieces of success are in place, and most importantly? This team knows it now.

There have been a lot of new faces around loanDepot Park, with several more on the way to the 305. With that being said, the biggest change around Miami may be the mood. Once considered a franchise that had dark clouds swirling over it, the future appears to be about as bright as it could be in the Sunshine State. It's in the air - this team believes in itself again.

"I love to hear all the camaraderie [the players] have going on right now; It's fun," McCullough said in late September as his team was winding down the season. "They're a good group that likes to play with each other, and I think we've been pretty battle-tested and dealt with some adversity, and we've got more to come."

Much of the new culture is built around the alliance between McCullough and Bendix as the brain trust for the organization, on the field and in the front office, respectively. 

"Clayton and I are very aligned," Bendix has stated. Clayton is an excellent representative of the organization, an excellent voice of the organization. He has helped establish a fantastic culture in our clubhouse."

That feeling of synergy has been passed along to the players, who have grown closer as they've fought their way back to respectability again. They won a little in 2026, they have big plans for next season, and they're having a blast doing it together.

"I actually think that we go out and have fun," pitcher Tyler Phillips says of his team. ""It's like ‘rah rah,’ but we're just having fun, and it incentivizes going out there and playing as hard as you can."