Miami Marlins week in review: Creating and maintaining a winning mentality

Yuli Gurriel keeps preaching the message.

“I keep working on telling these guys that we’re going to play baseball in October,” Gurriel said. “You’ve got to repeat that over and over and at some point, the guys are going to believe it. They’re starting to believe that they’re gonna play baseball in October.”

It’s still early in the season, yes, but the Marlins have shown signs that they can, in fact, be a contender for the playoffs in Skip Schumaker’s first year as manager.

After sweeping the Oakland Athletics this weekend, Miami is 32-28 at the 60-game mark of the season. That’s tied for the third-best start in franchise history, trailing only the 1997 World Series championship team (35-25) and the 2004 season (34-26).

That puts Miami in second place in the National League East, two games ahead of the New York Mets (30-30) and just three-and-a-half games behind the division-leading Atlanta Braves (35-24).

They are 16-4 in one-run games (after going 24-40 in those situations in 2022), have eight wins when either tied or trailing after the ninth inning and three walk-off victories. They have won 10 of the 19 series they have played this season, including four series sweeps.

“They fight. They don’t quit,” Schumaker said. “It’s still so early. We’re 60 games in, so there’s a lot of baseball left to play, but credit to them. They don’t take anybody for granted. They’re coming in and it’s every day is the most meaningful day in the big leagues to them and a chance to get better and try to win.”

So what’s different about this group than the one Miami had last year? A common theme expressed is the impact of newcomers to the team like Gurriel, third baseman Jean Segura and second baseman Luis Arraez have brought to the clubhouse.

Some thoughts from those who were here last year...

▪ Catcher Jacob Stallings: “We just have a lot of belief in the room. The new additions have certainly helped that and I think the guys just really believe in one another. You just have a lot of hungry guys on the team, a lot of professional players and it shows.

“The more we win, the more that we believe in ourselves. I think that since we won so many close games early, it’s almost like ‘All right, another close game, we’re probably gonna win just because it’s kind of what we do.’ To Yuli’s point, we’ve got some guys in here that have done it before and obviously he’s one of the front-runners of that with the World Series and multiple postseasons. Yeah, I think that we just believe and I think Skip and the staff has been a big part of creating that culture. It’s been a lot of fun. We’re having fun. It’s a fun group.”

▪ First baseman/designated hitter Garrett Cooper: “I think it felt different from Day 1 since Skip got here and the new coaching staff, and just the new players we brought in. I think a lot of guys have had ups and downs so far this year. Just to see the injuries, maybe people thought it would have impacted us a little bit more. ... Every team goes through injuries, you can’t really use that as an excuse through a six-month season [because] it’s a long year. Just for everyone to come up and step up — there’s so many pieces that a lot of guys use throughout the year that have helped win a lot of games.”

▪ Starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara: “Everyone’s doing good. When we fall, we support each other. We’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing, keep winning games, keep going on a role and keep winning series.”

▪ General manager Kim Ng: “These guys come from winning organizations. Adding players like this into the mix, veteran leadership — even Jean has obviously had a rough time, but his work off the field and on the field has been really good — I think that’s something that the younger players take note of as well. Adding those guys into the mix has definitely helped and I think it’s taken a little bit of the pressure off some of the younger guys as well, particularly in those big situations.”

Game recaps from the week

▪ Tuesday — Padres 9, Marlins 4: Marlins pitchers gave up too many walks and the offense missed too many chances to drop the series opener against San Diego.

▪ Wednesday — Marlins 2, Padres 1: Catcher Nick Fortes hit a walk-off single and called a strong game behind the plate.

▪ Thursday — Padres 10, Marlins 1: A sixth inning to forget doomed the Marlins in the series finale.

▪ Friday — Marlins 4, Athletics 0: Jesus Sanchez’s early home run and Edward Cabrera’s quality start led the way to a series-opening shutout.

▪ Saturday — Marlins 12, Athletics 1: Luis Arraez had the first five-hit game of his MLB career to back another solid start from Eury Perez.

▪ Sunday — Marlins 7, Athletics 5: The Athletics scored five runs in the third inning against Sandy Alcantara, but the Marlins rallied late to secure the sweep.

Soriano’s save

With the Marlins blowing out the Athletics on Saturday and Schumaker wanting to use as few of his primary relievers as possible, George Soriano took the mound in the seventh inning.

Sixty-one pitches and three innings later, the 24-year-old right-handed pitcher left the mound with his first career MLB save. Soriano, ranked as the Marlins’ No. 26 prospect by MLB Pipeline, held Oakland to one run on four hits and two walks while striking out three in his fourth overall MLB appearance after making his big-league debut earlier this season.

Soriano on Saturday was just the 11th player (and 13th overall instance) in Marlins history to record a three-inning save and the first since Vance Worley on Sept. 19, 2017.

In case you missed it

▪ Marlins general manager Kim Ng met with a small group of reporters on Friday. Here are the highlights.

▪ Sandy Alcantara has been “very frustrated” with his first two months of the 2023 season.

▪ JT Chargois brushed aside any credit thrown his way after recording his first career save.

▪ Marlins coaches and players marvel at Jorge Soler’s home run surge.

Upcoming Marlins schedule

Monday: Marlins vs. Royals, 6:40 p.m.

Tuesday: Marlins vs. Royals, 6:40 p.m.

Wednesday: Marlins vs. Royals, 6:40 p.m.

Thursday: OFF

Friday: Marlins at White Sox, 8:10 p.m.

Saturday: Marlins at White Sox, 2:10 p.m.

Sunday: Marlins at White Sox, 2:10 p.m.