No-Quit Miami Marlins Making Late Push for Final NL Wild Card

Sorry to begin with a dictionary definition, but...Merriam-Webster defines "fish story" as, "A story that is so strange or surprising that it seems very unlikely to be true."

Sounds precisely like the tale the Miami Marlins are trying to write in 2014.

Entering the season, most experts pegged the Marlins to finish at or near the bottom of the pack. And for much of the year they've lived up, or down, to those modest expectations.

Yet here we are, with just 19 games left to play, and the Fish are within striking distance of the postseason.

Miami stands at 71-72, 3.5 games out in the race for the second wild-card spot after defeating the reeling Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 Tuesday night.

They'd have to pass three teams—Milwaukee, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the division-rival Atlanta Braves—to swim to the front of the pack. 

That's a tall order, but not an impossible one.

The Marlins have a weaker remaining schedule than the Braves, Pirates or Brewers, per ESPN.com. They also have a scrappy, no-quit attitude. 

And, of course, they have Giancarlo Stanton.

As SI.com's Jon Tayler put it on Aug. 17:

"

That Miami should be flirting with an above-.500 record, let alone in contention, is one of the least likely stories of the season, and one that looked especially improbable once the team lost its ace, Jose Fernandez, to a torn elbow ligament in May. But while there are many factors that go into the Marlins' surprising success, it's been the team's other young star largely responsible for Miami's turnaround: Giancarlo Stanton. 

"

Entering play Wednesday, the 24-year-old masher leads the National League in home runs (37), RBI (105), slugging percentage (.560) and OPS (.957). 

He's at the top of the list of NL MVP contenders and could be in line for a massive payday from Miami, provided he chooses to stay in town, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale. 

The Marlins are determined to keep Stanton for the long haul, Nightengale reports, and "could make him baseball's first $300 million player."

Whether he takes the bait, it'll be the biggest decision in South Beach since LeBron.

Tom Lynn/Associated Press

"He's the leader of this franchise,'' Miami president David Samson told Nightengale. "We always knew the talent he had, but what he's done this year, playing every day, he's the definition of a game-changer."

The question is whether he can change the remaining games enough to push the Marlins toward an improbable playoff berth.

He'll need others to step up. Like third baseman Casey McGehee, who went 2-for-4 in Tuesday night's victory, hiking his average to .297 and launching his fourth home run.

Or outfielder Christian Yelich, who's hitting .296 with 19 stolen bases in his first full MLB campaign.

Or hurler Henderson Alvarez, who has anchored the rotation with a 2.88 ERA and is expected back this week after missing time with an oblique strain, per Craig Davis of Florida's Sun Sentinel. 

Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

“It’s tough because we know what we have in front of us, know what has to be done,” starter Tom Koehler told Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. “It’s just that big pitch, that big play that we’re missing."

In the end, if the Marlins are going to make this odds-defying run a reality, they'll need Stanton to take them on his considerable shoulders and carry them. Like a star. Like a leader. Like an MVP.

As Stanton himself put it to Nightengale: "You can't be just OK hanging around with the big boys. We have to turn it around and become one of the big boys.''

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.