A Fish Called Wonder: Amazingly, Every Six Years Marlins Spawn Playoff Contender

The sun rises and sets daily. There is a full moon every 28 days. Leap years occur every four years.

There are countless constants in this world.

One cyclical occurrence the Florida Marlins are hoping to continue?

A World Series Title every six years as a Wild Card team.

Yes, the Marlins won their first World Series in 1997. They won it again, six years later, in 2003.

The Florida Marlins are just six-and-a-half games back of Philly in the National League East Division standings.

They are probably hoping the Phillies go on a tear and run away with the division!

In case it had not registered yet, “Da Fish” are in playoff contention this year and it has been exactly six years since their last World Series appearance.

In fact, it has been six years since their last playoff appearance. The Marlins have only made the playoffs in years they have won the title.

They are the only team in baseball undefeated in playoff series.

Florida is competitive every six years, mostly because they build their team with prospects for a couple years, sign a free agent or trade for a couple veterans, and then dismantle their team after they win it all.

Let’s see if we can notice a trend here.

This year, they have their core group of players they have developed in Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu, Jeremy Hermida, Cody Ross, and John Baker. They added a veteran backstop in Ronnie Paulino in the offseason and traded for Nick Johnson at the deadline to shore up a hole at the corner position.

The Marlins can win a playoff series with pitching. They have a couple of strong pitchers that can dominate a series in Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco. They do need some more consistency with their bullpen as Leo Nunez and Matt Lindstrom have struggled as closers.

Can they continue their pattern of success this year? If so, they will probably clean house again and start over again for the next six years. That would bring the Miami Marlins (the team’s new name to coincide with a new stadium in 2012) their first title under that name in 2015.

Although the system seems to lack the consistency most teams would prefer to have, the Marlins have two championships to show for their efforts.

Would the Cubs, Mariners, Brewers, and countless other clubs trade one World Series Title for five years of ineptitude? Of course they would.

The Cubs have gone 101 years without a title. The Mariners hold the Major League record with 116 wins (2001). The Brewers have those you-never-know-who’s-gonna-win wiener races. I’m sure they’d trade all that for just one championship.

Don’t look now, but Florida is poised for a run at the Wild Card berth. They have never won their division and they really shouldn’t want to. The Wild Card seems to work well for them.

They like being the underdog. Overachievers like the pressure of having no pressure.

Florida sits just two games back of Colorado in the run for the last playoff spot and if they can claim it, you may want to contact your bookie and place a small wager on them winning it all.

There are constants in this world: Haley’s Comet is seen from Earth every 75 years; Brett Favre will retire and come back every year; athletes only test positive for steroids because they were duped by some over-the-counter supplement.

The Florida Marlins can prove to be a constant as well, apparently every six years.