1997 Florida Marlins

 In 1994, with recent expansion done by MLB and more on the way, there was a desire to expand the playoffs to beyond just four teams. They expanded the divisions to add a Central Division to each league and created a Wild Card for the best non-division winner. The players strike delayed the new format until 1995 and the Wild Card era of baseball had begun. No longer would failure to win your division mean certain doom to a teams otherwise outstanding season. But the question now was, could a team that clearly wasn't the best in their division still find a way to win it all in October?

The Florida Marlins were entering just their 5th season of existence, but they had been building the framework for a contender pretty much from day 1. To put the finishing touch on the major preparations for winning, Jim Leyland was brought in to be Manager. Still, they played in the National League East, where the Atlanta Braves were in the prime of their NL dynasty. When the regular season played out, the Marlins finished with a strong 92-70 (their first winning season), 2nd best in the entire National League...but still 9 games behind the Braves. However, the Wild Card was all theirs, 4 games beyond the reach of the LA Dodgers.

As was the format of the time, the Wild Card was not allowed to play the best team in the league if they were both from the same division, so the Marlins would begin their first playoff trip in San Francisco against the Giants. Game 1 was a thrilling pitchers duel that ended with a Marlins walk-off victory. Game 2 was a back and forth offensive battle that once again ended with a Marlins walk-off single. The Marlins finished the sweep behind a Devon White grand slam in Game 3.

The Braves pulled off an NLDS sweep of their own, so for the 2nd time in baseball, a pennant would come down to divisional opponents. The Braves had the hype and the 100 win season, but the Marlins had actually won the season series 8-4 and reminded the world in Game 1 as Kevin Brown outdueled Greg Maddux. The Braves evened the series with a rout in Game 2, sending things to Florida.

Livan Hernandez kept the Braves offense in check to lead Florida to a Game 3 win. The Braves and Denny Neagle evened the series with a shutout, and things seemed to be breaking down for the Marlins. With Kevin Brown sick with the flu, Livan Hernandez stepped up early to pitch the pivotal Game 5. Behind a generous strike zone and a NLCS record 15 strikeouts, Hernandez won the game 2-1, putting the Fish a win away from the pennant. Kevin Brown, still sick, recovered enough to start Game 6. The Marlins gave him an early lead and he made it hold up to give the Marlins the distinction of being the first Wild Card team to make the World Series.

The World Series would put the Marlins against the Cleveland Indians. The teams would trade wins and bring it all down to Game 7. The Indians took an early 2 run lead, that Bobby Bonilla cut in half with a 7th inning solo homer. In the 9th, the Indians gave the ball to their Closer Jose Mesa. The Marlins got inside his head and managed to load the bases with 1 out where Craig Counsell hit a deep sac fly to tie it up and send Game 7 into extra innings.

In the bottom of the 11th, the Marlins would again load the bases. With 2 outs, Edgar Renteria stepped in against Indians ace Charles Nagy pitching in relief. Renteria hit a ball back at Nagy, where it bounced off his glove and straight on through where no infielder could touch it as Craig Counsell sprinted home with the winning and title clinching run.

For the first time, a Wild Card team claimed the World Series. The Marlins built up a championship team over their 5 years of existence, but management had unfortunate plans to implement for this team going forward...

Just 2 years before, Livan Hernandez had completed an escape from Communist Cuba and defected to the United States. His rookie campaign in '97 saw him finish 2nd for Rookie of the Year and the chance to shine in October. He beat the Braves and Indians twice each to lay claim to both the NLCS and World Series MVP awards.

Fernandez was the pitching staff's top winner with 17 Wins. He finished off the Giants with a Win in the NLDS. After pitching in Game 2 of the NLCS, it was discovered he had a torn rotator cuff, ending his postseason and costing him 1998 as well.

Other starters. Not quite Kevin Brown, but they held up in October even as the injuries and sick players were starting to pile up.

Closing games for the Fish in '97 was Robb Nen and his 35 Saves. He also picked up a couple Saves against both the Braves and Indians.

Primary bullpen arms. 1997 saw baseball retire #42 league wide, but as Dennis Cook shows, it was grandfathered in to allow guys already wearing the number to keep it. Jay Powell did his job in Game 7 against the Indians to earn the Win when the Marlins walked it off.

Other pitchers. I'm not thrilled with the Matt Whisenant card, but I feel an odd obligation to honor and represent the guys in that original MLB Showdown 2000 set, and good pictures were slim for Matt who only briefly pitched for Florida (and switched to #30 for '97). The way-too-many Walks on his chart is on brand.

That 5 year march from expansion team to world champion had begun with the 1993 trade for Gary Sheffield. Sheff wasn't the main attraction in the lineup, but he had laid the foundation that the team built around and created an offense that could hang with the big teams. Each playoff opponent felt his power with a Home Run in each series, including the only Florida player to homer against the Braves.

While Sheffield brought power of his own, Alou led the team with 23 Home Runs and 115 RBI. He also hit his way to an all star nomination and a 10th place finish for MVP. It took him a while to flex some power in October, but he made up for it in the World Series as he hit 3 homers in the series against the Indians.

A solid Catcher is so underrated for a championship squad, and Charles Johnson was very underrated in his time. That +11 at Catcher isn't a mistake as he took home the Gold Glove award (the 3rd of 4 straight seasons). He'd make the all star team for the 1st time in his career and get some MVP votes for the only time.

The rest of the lineup. Bonilla's .297 Average was best of them all, while Renteria was the top guy with 32 Stolen Bases, 90 Runs and the World Series winning hit in Game 7.

Bench options. The Marlins weren't afraid to resort to their reserves, as shown by Counsell above being the man on base scoring the WS winning run. Eisenreich and Daulton added homers against the Indians as well.

Every so often while making cards, I come across a picture that matches the one used in the real Showdown sets. This image was used in the Kevin Brown 2003 Pennant Run Super Season card. The Super Season in question was for his 1996 year, but the picture clearly shows Brown from 1997 (as seen by the Jackie Robinson patch that everyone wore that season). It's far from the only time an inaccurate photo was used in the cards (BJ Surhoff's Showdown 2000 card comes to mind), but it's fun that I had a chance to put that picture of Brown in a proper season.

Anyway, Brown's 1997 was another typical all star year that also saw him pitch a No-Hitter on June 10th against the Giants.