DIVE IN---The 2015 Miami Marlins Baseball Season

[rjl518]

Hello all you dynasty readers.
My name is RJL518 and it is time for the 2015 MLB Season featuring everyone's favorite SwordFish!
The Miami Marlins!
This is going to be a PREPLAY season...meaning that i will play out every game during the season in real time.
I have decided to be the MANAGER of the Marlins and i will let OOTP be the General Manager of the team.
Which means i will have no control over transactions, signings, releases and so on during the current baseball season.
I will, however, have control over lineups and pitching rotations throughout the season and i will do my absolute best to win every single game i manage.
The season will start on Opening Day, April 6th and will run to its end in October.
I hope that the Marlins will be one of the few teams in the playoffs, but if they dont make it, i will continue to finish the season in real time with the playoffs so that the 2015 season comes to a satisfactory championship conclusion.
Regular vanilla OOTP16 will be used in this preplay except for one MAJOR change in the playoffs.
No i will NOT be adding or subtracting any teams or using my EPS (Expanded Playoff System).
The three division winners and two wildcards will qualify, but instead of the ONE game wildcard playoff, the two wildcards will play a best of THREE wildcard series.
I just dont think that ONE game does justice to two teams who played 162 games during the regular season and then it comes down to only ONE game after that to move on to the division series.
One thing i should mention.
This is going to be the world of OOTP16.
So any transactions that occur IRL, might NOT occur in OOTP.
If there are any blockbuster transactions made in this world of OOTP, i will report on it for the sake of the media.
So far, it has been an absolute pleasure running my other dynasties.
But now it is time for the CURRENT season to commence.
Im hoping for great things to come in what i think will be a very interesting baseball season for the SwordFish.
I will begin the 2015 season with a short preseason report in the next reply.
Thank you all for reading and prepare for some exciting OOTP16 Baseball.

I invite everyone to DIVE IN and enjoy the 2015 MIAMI MARLINS baseball season!

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by rjl518

Hello all you dynasty readers.
My name is RJL518 and it is time for the 2015 MLB Season featuring everyone's favorite SwordFish!
The Miami Marlins!
This is going to be a PREPLAY season...meaning that i will play out every game during the season in real time.
I have decided to be the MANAGER of the Marlins and i will let OOTP be the General Manager of the team.
Which means i will have no control over transactions, signings, releases and so on during the current baseball season.
I will, however, have control over lineups and pitching rotations throughout the season and i will do my absolute best to win every single game i manage.
The season will start on Opening Day, April 6th and will run to its end in October.
I hope that the Marlins will be one of the few teams in the playoffs, but if they dont make it, i will continue to finish the season in real time with the playoffs so that the 2015 season comes to a satisfactory championship conclusion.
Regular vanilla OOTP16 will be used in this preplay except for one MAJOR change in the playoffs.
No i will NOT be adding or subtracting any teams or using my EPS (Expanded Playoff System).
The three division winners and two wildcards will qualify, but instead of the ONE game wild card playoff, the two wildcards will play a best of THREE wild card series.
I just dont think that ONE game does justice to two teams who played 162 games during the regular season and only get ONE game after that to move on.
So far, it has been an absolute pleasure running my other dynasties.
But now it is time for the CURRENT season to commence.
Im hoping for great things to come in what i think will be a very interesting baseball season for the SwordFish.
I will begin the 2015 season with a short preseason report in the next reply.
Thank you all for reading and prepare for some exciting OOTP16 Baseball.

I invite everyone to DIVE IN and enjoy the 2015 MIAMI MARLINS baseball season!

Good luck in Miami! I had a lot of fun with a real-time dynasty last year, and hopefully you have as much fun this year.

[rjl518]

As the Spring Training season comes to an end and all 30 MLB teams leave Florida and Arizona for their respective homes, we take a look at the Swordfish for the 2015 season.
As you can see, there is a good amount of talent on the Marlins, who IMO have made some very good acquisitions in the offseason.
Re-signing Giancarlo Stanton to the blockbuster deal that they did, locks him up for as long as the Marlins want him.
He is the best player on the Marlins, and is a sure fire contender for the NL MVP award!
Jose Fernandez is recovering from TJ surgery, and should be pitching in July if he stays on schedule.
He is the best pitcher on this team, and MIA needs him if they want to be a playoff contender.
The rest of the pitching staff, however, should be okay for a while.
Mat Latos, Henderson Alvarez, and Dan Haren are strong starters who should give opposing batters headaches.
Mike Dunn, AJ Ramos and Steve Cishek will be looking to Hold runners and close doors in the late innings.
The lineup is pretty solid as well.
Besides Stanton, Dee Gordon and Adeiny Hechavarria will look to get on base and score some runs.
I also like Martin Prado and Mike Morse to collect some RBIs.
And i also like the pickup of Ichiro, who will be a fan favorite for the season as tries to collect his 3000 hits.
So this is the team that i have to manage into the playoffs and beyond!
The NL East is going to be a very tough division this year.
The Washington Nationals are the favorites to win the division and make the world series.
The Atlanta Braves have always been a tough out every season.
The New York Mets are also predicted to have a good season and maybe be a playoff contender.
And you can never count out the Philadelphia Phillies, who always seem to be there when it counts.
But...im managing the Miami Marlins, and its my job to take this team to the playoffs!
I told my GM, "Dont worry, Boss...I GOT THIS!!!"
Hmmm...lets hope my team's actions back up my words!

So...without further delay...may i entice all you Swordfish fans out there to...

DIVE IN

and meet...

THE 2015 MIAMI MARLINS!!!

[rjl518]

4/4

The Preseason Predictions are in!
In the American League:
1) Kansas City Royals
2) Oakland Athletics
3) Tampa Bay Rays
4) Seattle Mariners
5) (TIE) Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels
Might be a one game playoff in the AL for that 2nd wild card!

In the National League:
1) St. Louis Cardinals
2) San Francisco Giants
3) Washington Nationals
4) Los Angeles Dodgers
5) New York Mets
My Miami Marlins are predicted to finish in 4th place, only 2 games under .500!
Im going to do whatever it takes to prove OOTP wrong!!

My GM has already done some opening day transactions by sending some of my players to New Orleans and calling up a few to the active roster.
Im not too sure about sending Aaron Crow down, because i liked his ratings.
I also had high hopes for Donovan Solano, but maybe my GM has better ideas.

I restructured the depth chart and rotation to my liking and started getting ready for Opening Day on Monday!
First Opponent: A 3-game series at Marlins Park hosting the Atlanta Braves.

[rjl518]

Even though the Miami Marlins dont start the season until the 6th, i thought i would report on the opening day game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs.
Jon Lester pitched a great game with his new team and got the win as the Cubs won the game 6-4 at Wrigley Field.
Miguel Montero was 2 for 3 including a double and a triple.
Jorge Soler was 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs and Arismendy Alcantara scored 2 runs as well.
Kris Bryant became the first player to hit a HR in the 2015 season as he smacked one out for the Cubs in the 5th inning.

[rjl518]

Series 1 Preview: Atlanta Braves

With the start of a new baseball season, every team has hopes and dreams of dog piling on the diamond at the end of October.
Every team starts with an 0-0 record, so there is a lot of excitement and determination at the beginning of the season no matter what the sport.
The Atlanta Braves are first up for the Marlins.
If the Marlins stay ahead in the late innings, Craig Kimbrel wont be an issue.
Have to get through Alex Wood on Opening Day, however, and Andrelton Simmons is one of the better SS in the league.
Freddie Freeman has strong hitting ability and is a threat at the plate.
My feeling on the baseball schedule is this:
Win the 3-game series...split the 4-game series and split the 2-game series.
If i can do this theory when it comes to the schedule, the Marlins should be playing in October.
I will be keeping track of series' records during the season and at the end, we shall see where we end up!
Opening day for the Miami Marlins is tomorrow night!
BE THERE or BE SQUARE!!!
(Be there or be square??? Man, I am OLD!..well my 17 year old daughter says that)

Here is the schedule for April 2015 for the Miami Marlins!!!
Basically a divisional schedule to start the season off with series' against the Braves, Phillies, Mets and Nationals, with one 3-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays early in the month.

[rjl518]

4/6

A crowd of almost 32000 appeared at Marlins Park for the Opening Night game against the Atlanta Braves.
Mat Latos pitched a great game and gave up nothing except 5 hits as the Marlins took the first game of the season by shutting out the Braves 2-0!
Alex Wood pitched a good game for ATL as well, but MIA came through against him with some bad errors in the field by ATL.

Key Moments:
4th Inning:
Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich both get on base and advance to 3b on two throwing errors by AJ Pierzynski.
Yelich bought Ozuna home and Saltalamacchia brought Yelich home.
They were the only runs scored by MIA.

8th Inning:
Mat Latos running out of gas and allowed two base runners by single and walk.
Runners on 1st and 2nd and no one out.
Mike Dunn, comes in to get out Eric Young, and AJ Ramos forces a double play to Yenier Bello to get the Marlins out of the inning.

Its always great to start the season off with a win.
And the Marlins did just that.
Now lets see if we can put two in a row together to start the season!
Season Record 1-0
Series Record 0-0-0

[rjl518]

4/7

About half of the Opening day crowd that watched MIA beat ATL yesterday showed up for tonights game.
It was another close one, but one that the Marlins will take as they got the win over Atlanta by a score of 3-2.
The win gives Miami their first series win of the season and tomorrow they will try to sweep!
Henderson Alvarez pitched a fine game and got the win over ATLs Julio Teheran.
However, the injury bug has already bitten MIA.
Alvarez looks like he will be day to day for two weeks with wrist soreness, and Christian Yelich was also injured.
No Diagnosis yet on Yelich, but i have a feeling, im going to lose him for a while.

Key Moments:
Bottom 5th:
Ichiro, who had just replaced Yelich in the 4th, doubles in Ozuna from 1st and puts the Marlins ahead 1-0.

Top 9th:
Steve Cishek picks up his 2nd straight save as he gets Jonny Gomes to fly out and forces Dian Toscano into a double play to end the game.

Season Record 2-0
Series Record 1-0-0

[rjl518]

Transaction:

The Miami Marlins purchased the contract of Sam Dyson from NRL.
I really want Henderson Alvarez to get better before he pitches again, so Dyson might get a few starts in the rotation.
Two games into the season and already two key injuries.
My injury frequency level is on Normal BTW.
It will NOT change during the course of the season.

[rjl518]

4/8

This was the best game of the series and it went to the wire, but the Miami Marlins come out on top 5-2 over the Atlanta Braves to complete the series sweep.
Dan Haren picks up a no-decision but pitched very well against ATLs Shelby Miller.
Stanton was 2 for 3 including hitting his 1st HR of the year, a 2-run dinger in the 1st inning.
The Braves came right back with 2 runs in the 3rd, and the game continued to go back and forth with no one able to take the lead.
Marlins pitching did the job not allowing the Braves to score who left 9 runners on base!

Key Moment:
Bottom 9th:
Giancarlo Stanton gets on with a lead off base hit.
Mike Morse attempted to sacrifice him over, but he wound up safe at 1st with a base hit and Stanton moved to 2nd.
Ozuna grounded out to move Stanton to 3rd and i thought Ichiro was going to be the hero of the night, but he grounded out as well.
The hero turned out to be Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who sent one over the right field wall and give the Marlins a hard fought win.
I made sure that "Salty" got a shaving cream pie in the face during his media moment!
Vin Mazzaro got the win in this one and he was just called up at the start of the season.

Season: 3-0
Series: 1-0-0

[rjl518]

Transactions:

Christian Yelich was placed on the 15-day DL with a sprained ankle, who will probably miss almost a month of playing time.
Austin Wates was called up to fill his roster spot.
He might be fun to watch, this kid.

The Marlins have the day off tomorrow before the next series.
Next Opponent: 3-game series at Marlins Park vs Tampa Bay Rays

[rjl518]

4/9


The Miami Marlins have the day off so I decided to watch a random game on the schedule.
I decided to watch the Chicago White Sox and last year's AL champs, the Kansas City Royals from Kauffman Stadium.
All I saw was the White Sox have a whole lot offense as they shut out KC by a score of 7-0!
Jeff Samardzija pitched an awesome game, giving up no runs on 5 hits with 7 Ks.
CHWs Jose Abreu was the hitter of the game as he went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs and a HR in the 5th inning.
The White Sox improved to 2-1 in the infantile season and won the series over the Royals as they fell to 1-2.

[rjl518]

Series 2 Preview: Tampa Bay Rays at Marlins Park (3 Games)

Anytime you play an instate rival, anything is possible in a short series.
The Tampa Bay Rays are up next and they took 2 out of 3 against their last opponent, the Baltimore Orioles, in their 3-game series.
The strength of the Rays is still Evan Longoria, one of the best players in the majors.
Have to keep him off the bases.
The bullpen is strong, but I am not so sure about the starting rotation, which has a few holes in it.
Steve Geltz and Brad Boxberger are two hard throwers in the bullpen, but I think we can do well against them.
The Rays catcher, Rene Rivera is a player with some strong potential, and I cant count out the Rays closer, Jeff Beliveau.

We swept the Atlanta Braves to start the season, so lets see if we can continue our winning ways against our rival from central Florida.

[rjl518]

4/10

Well.. the 3 game winning streak ends right here on this day.
The Tampa Bay Rays crushed the Marlins 9-1 at Marlins Park.
Marlins pitching just wasn't there as Sam Dyson gave up 6 runs on 7 hits while TBs Jake Odorizzi stifled my lineup.
The Marlins left 13 men LOB and we could not get anyone to score.
Twice, the Marlins had the bases loaded and twice MIA was kept off the scoreboard.
TBs James Loney and Asdrubal Cabrera were the main men for the Rays, while Dee Gordon and Martin Prado were the big hitters for MIA.
This was a game that I will just throw in the trash can and try again tomorrow.
Have to win tomorrow in order to tie up the series.

Season Record: 3-1
Series Record 1-0-0

[rjl518]

4/11

A game for the ages, but one that im happy with the turnout.
The Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays go 15 innings in a game that no one wanted to lose.
But the Marlins came out on top with a 7-4 win!
Both teams went through practically their entire pitching staff and bench for this five hour marathon at Marlins Park.
TB jumped out to a 3-0 lead early off of Mat Latos, who did pitch well.
The Marlins had to claw their way back into this game and fight to tie it up in the 8th inning.
The Rays had 22 men LOB and the Marlins had 19 as each team had bases loaded with no one out a number of times in extras, but couldn't get anyone to cross the plate.
Then the Key Moment happened...

Key Moment:
Bottom 15th:
Mike Morse singles.
Marcell Ozuna walks.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia flies out.
Then Adeiny Hechavarria smacks one out over the left field wall and a crowd of over 20000 goes home happy after watching that ugly sculpture flash all over the place in center field.

The good news is that we did win the game...
The bad news is that im going to have a very tired bullpen for the next couple of days!
Rubber game of this series is tomorrow afternoon.

Season Record: 4-1
Series Record: 1-0-0

[rjl518]

4/12

The Marlins needed a good game from the rotation in order to give the bullpen a rest after that 15 inning marathon the day before.
They got it in the form of Jarred Cosart!
Cosart pitched 8 innings only giving up a HR to Steven Souza in the 2nd, but that was all he gave up.
He made 117 pitches and struck out 7 en route to a 7-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Marlins Park.
The win clinches the series for the Marlins and are now 2-0-0.
I guess the Rays pitching staff was more tired than ours, for the Marlins got to their bullpen early after Stanton and "Salty" hit HRs in the 1st inning to put MIA ahead for good.
The win gives the Marlins a 5-1 starting home stand, and they now they go on the road for the first time this season.
Lets hope the winning continues away from the friendly confines of Marlins Park.

Season Record: 5-1
Series Record: 2-0-0

[rjl518]

After the first week, the Marlins find themselves in 1st place.
I like that very much.
Martin Prado is leading MIA early in hitting while Henderson Alvarez leads in pitching.
After a 5-1 week to start the season, it shows me that this team has potential to win ball games.
Two injuries occurred however, with Alvarez going down with a sore wrist, and Christian Yelich out for a month with an ankle injury.
The Marlins now go on the road for ten games against the Braves, Mets and Phillies.
The next 22! games that the Marlins play are all against the NL East!

[rjl518]

I will also report on the rest of MLB during this season as well.
A couple of injuries to report.
NYM David Wright and SF Madison Bumgarner lost to injury for at least half the season.
I know that those two casualties are really gonna hurt their clubs.
The Detroit Tigers get off to a 6-0 start to the season.
Winning Streaks: NYY 4, LAD 4, SF 6
Losing Streaks: BOS 5, ARZ 5, SD 6.

[rjl518]

Series 3 Preview: Atlanta Braves at Turner Field

Atlanta will be looking for a little payback for the 3 game opening series sweep against us.
I just told my team that we did a great job pleasing our home crowd in the first few games of the season.
Now, we have to send the other crowds home with their heads hanging.
The season is off to a fine start.
Lets keep it going!

[rjl518]

4/13

The pitching was excellent in this game as MIA Dan Haren and ATL Julio Tehran pitched like they were masters of the mound.
But in the end, an error on an attempted pickoff throw to 1st by MIA Jarrod Saltalamacchia allowed ATL Chris Johnson to move into scoring position.
ATL Kelly Johnson, then doubled him home and that was the final score as the Braves nipped the Marlins 1-0 at Turner Field.
Marlins bats were very quiet tonight and they never really threatened at any time.
Just a good pitchers duel.
But one where we came up just a little short.

Season Record:5-2
Series Record: 2-0-0