The 1998 Florida Marlins season was the sixth season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise in the National League. It would begin with the team attempting to defend their World Series Champion title, having won the title in 1997. Their manager was Jim Leyland. They played home games at Pro Player Stadium, and finished with a record of 54–108, the worst record in all of baseball. The team is notable for having arguably the biggest fire sale in sports history, auctioning off nearly all of their most notable players. The 1998 Marlins were the first defending World Series champions to finish last in their division and the first to lose 100 games. To make matters more embarrassing, their record that season was worse than both of that year's expansion teams, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks, who also finished last in their own divisions (the AL East and NL West respectively), were nine and eleven games better than the Marlins, at 63–99 and 65-97 respectively.
The Marlins won on opening day against the Chicago Cubs, but it would be the only time they were over .500 all season. They promptly lost 11 straight, the most consecutive losses by a reigning champion. By the end of May, they were 17–38, 21 games under .500, and their season was all but over. The Marlins would finish 0–9 against three teams: Cincinnati, San Francisco, and Milwaukee. The 1998 Marlins are the most recent team to finish winless against three separate opponents.
Offseason November 18, 1997: Devon White was traded by the Florida Marlins to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Jesus Martinez (minors).Devon White Statistics Baseball-Reference.com December 15, 1997: Scott Podsednik was drafted by the Texas Rangers from the Florida Marlins in the 1997 rule 5 draft.Scott Podsednik Statistics Baseball-Reference.com December 15, 1997: Derrek Lee was traded by the San Diego Padres with Steve Hoff (minors) and Rafael Medina to the Florida Marlins for Kevin Brown. December 21, 1997: Kevin Millar was signed as a free agent with the Florida Marlins.
Regular season Opening Day starters 15 Cliff Floyd LF 16 Edgar Renteria SS 3 Ryan Jackson 1B 10 Gary Sheffield RF 7 Mark Kotsay CF 23 Charles Johnson C 30 Craig Counsell 2B 2 Josh Booty 3B 61 Livan Hernandez P
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Notable transactions April 15, 1998: Jacob Brumfield was signed as a free agent with the Florida Marlins.Jacob Brumfield Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
The Mike Piazza trades May 14, 1998: Mike Piazza was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with Todd Zeile to the Florida Marlins for Manuel Barrios, Bobby Bonilla, Jim Eisenreich, Charles Johnson, and Gary Sheffield.Bobby Bonilla Statistics Baseball-Reference.com May 22, 1998: Mike Piazza was traded by the Florida Marlins to the New York Mets for Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall, and Geoff Goetz (minors).
Citrus Series The first interleague game between the Florida Marlins and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays took place at Tropicana Field. The rivalry would be known as the Citrus Series. The Marlins won the game in twelve innings by a score of 3–2 and would go on to win the season series 3 games to 1.
June 22 - Marlins @ Devil Rays: 3 – 2 June 23 - Marlins @ Devil Rays: 4 – 6 June 24 - Marlins vs Devil Rays: 8 – 4 June 25 - Marlins vs Devil Rays: 5 – 1
Roster 1998 Florida Marlins Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
Coaches (Bench) (3rd Base) (Pitching) (Bullpen) (Hitting) (1st Base)
Player stats = Indicates team leader
Batting
Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases Pos Player G AB R H HR RBI Avg. SB C 106 298 19 56 5 29 .1885 1B 141 45462 106 17 74 .233 5 2B 107 335 43 84 4 40 .251 3 3B 66 23437 68 6 39 .291 2 SS 133 517 79 146 3 31 .282 41 LF 153 58885 166 22 90 .282 27 CF 116 434 53 109 5 28 .251 5 RF 154 578 72161 11 68 .27910
Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases Player G AB R H HR RBI Avg. SB 81 18218 57 2 21 .313 3 28 9711 27 4 15 .278 0 7 190 3 0 3 .158 0 104 17119 43 1 10 .251 2 44 15321 31 1 10 .203 3 10 150 3 0 3 .200 0 30 649 16 1 7 .250 2 25 86 11 13 3 7 .151 0 111 26026 65 5 31 .250 1 31 11313 25 7 23 .221 0 15 494 10 2 11 .204 0 Kevin Millar 2 2 1 1 0 0 .500 0 48 17523 46 6 17 .263 1 5 18 1 5 0 5 .278 0 37 118 10 39 2 12 .331 0 John Roskos 10 10 1 1 0 0 .100 0 40 13621 37 6 28 .272 4 53 88 10 20 0 5 .227 1 14 314 2 1 1 .065 0
Pitching
Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO 33 234.1 10 12 4.72 162 31 174.1 11 13 5.21 88 35 173.0 7 9 4.47 137 17 74.2 3 8 9.64 43 12 67.1 2 6 6.01 49 Joe Fontenot 8 42.2 0 7 6.33 24 Chris Hammond 3 13.2 0 2 6.59 8
Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts; SV = Saves Player G IP W L ERA SO SV 58 70.2 4 6 4.08 46 8 59 71.0 0 7 3.68 74 1 43 59.1 4 3 3.79 32 0 15 20.0 0 0 8.55 19 0 41 41.0 0 3 5.49 38 2 42 54.2 3 4 2.96 63 9 23 33.1 0 1 5.13 26 0 33 36.1 4 4 4.21 24 3 18 19.1 0 3 8.38 15 0 38 48.0 2 4 5.63 30 1 Manuel Barrios 2 2.2 0 0 3.38 1 0 Gabe Gonzalez 3 1.0 0 0 9.00 0 0
Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts; SV = Saves Player G IP W L ERA SO SV Kirt Ojala 41 125.0 2 7 4.25 75 0 14 54.2 1 5 7.08 35 0 13 32.2 1 4 7.44 27 0
Farm system
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
References
External links 1998 Marlins at Baseball Reference 1998 Florida Marlins at Baseball Almanac