The Florida Teams as the 2015 MLB Season Draws to Close

At the start of the 2015 Major League Baseball season, the National League's Miami Marlins were given a lot of support in the sports media for being a team that was on its way up...definitely a playoff contender and even possibly vying for the East Division title.  In the American League, on the other hand, the Tampa Bay Rays, after losing its longtime manager Joe Madden to the Chicago Cubs in the off-season and trading away some of its major talent, weren't expected to do much beyond finishing last in their East Division.  Instead, the Rays, with its new manager Kevin Cash, surprised most of us, actually being in first place for much of the early part of the season and remaining in wild card contention until just recently.  Miami, however, started out dismally slow and never recovered.  After the All-Star break, they went into an even worse tailspin, actually falling briefly into last place in their division.  Of late, however, they have been playing very well and are now solidly in third place...albeit with a horrendous 64-83 record.  This team disappointed me and many others this year: proven veteran players that they acquired in the off-season, with the notable exception of overachieving 2nd baseman Dee Gorden, have had substandard performances.  Losing their star slugger Giancarlo Stanton halfway through the season to injury didn't help, either...and don't get me going about their pitching...

Tampa Bay is currently only a half-game ahead of last place Boston with a 70-76 record, considerably better than Miami's but getting worse.  They have sixteen games to go in the regular season to try to stay out of the cellar.  Seven of these games will be against the Red Sox...and they will most likely determine where the Rays end up in the standings.  As for the Marlins, I'm sure at this point that they're just looking ahead to 2016 and the many changes they will need to make: a new manager would be a good start...