1998 Florida Marlins season

March 2026 November 2013 Florida Marlins 1998 National League East Pro Player Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida 54–108 (.333) 5th Wayne Huizenga Dave Dombrowski Jim Leyland Sports Channel FloridaWBFS-TV(Joe Angel, Dave O'Brien, Tommy Hutton, Jay Randolph) WQAM(Joe Angel, Dave O'Brien, Jon Sciambi)WQBA (Spanish)(Felo Ramírez, Manolo Alvarez) 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.Derrek Lee Stats https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/leede02.shtml 2021-10-17 Baseball-Reference.com en December 21, 1997: Kevin Millar was signed as a free agent with the Florida Marlins.Kevin Millar Stats https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/millake01.shtml 2021-10-17 Baseball-Reference.com en 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 Florida Marlins Record vs. opponents FLA 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.http://baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=199806220TBA Box Score of Game played on Monday, June 22, 1998 at Tropicana Field 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 57 Antonio Alfonseca 48 Manuel Barrios 20,40 Vic Darensbourg 50 Ryan Dempster 20 Brian Edmondson 54 Joe Fontenot 46,60 Gabe González 40 Chris Hammond 41 Oscar Henríquez 49 Félix Heredia 61 Liván Hernández 36 Andy Larkin 43 Eric Ludwick 33 Matt Mantei 34 Brian Meadows 47 Rafael Medina 24 Kirt Ojala 44 Donn Pall 39 Jay Powell 21 Jesus Sánchez 51 Justin Speier 38 Rob Stanifer Catchers 23 Charles Johnson  4 Randy Knorr 31 Mike Piazza 52 Mike Redmond  9 Gregg Zaun Infielders 13,58 Dave Berg 25 Bobby Bonilla  2 Josh Booty  1 Luis Castillo 30 Craig Counsell 39 Brian Daubach  8 Jim Eisenreich 22 Álex González  3 Ryan Jackson 27,25 Derrek Lee 18 Kevin Millar 27 Kevin Orie 16 Édgar Rentería 19 John Roskos 25,27 Todd Zeile Outfielders 28 John Cangelosi 17 Todd Dunwoody 15 Cliff Floyd 4,7 Mark Kotsay 10 Gary Sheffield 14 John Wehner  8 Preston Wilson Manager 11 Jim Leyland Coaches  6 Lorenzo Bundy (Bench) 45 Rich Donnelly (3rd Base) 31 Rich Dubee (Pitching) 12 Bruce Kimm (Bullpen) 29 Milt May (Hitting) 37 Tommy Sandt (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 Gregg Zaun 106 298 19 56 5 29 .1885 1B Derrek Lee 141 45462 106 17 74 .233 5 2B Craig Counsell 107 335 43 84 4 40 .251 3 3B Todd Zeile 66 23437 68 6 39 .291 2 SS Édgar Rentería 133 517 79 146 3 31 .282 41 LF Cliff Floyd 153 58885 166 22 90 .282 27 CF Todd Dunwoody 116 434 53 109 5 28 .251 5 RF Mark Kotsay 154 578 72161 11 68 .279101998 Florida Marlins Statistics https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/FLA/1998.shtml 2021-10-17 Baseball-Reference.com en 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 Dave Berg Dave Berg (infielder) 81 18218 57 2 21 .313 3 Bobby Bonilla 28 9711 27 4 15 .278 0 Josh Booty 7 190 3 0 3 .158 0 John Cangelosi 104 17119 43 1 10 .251 2 Luis Castillo Luis Castillo (second baseman) 44 15321 31 1 10 .203 3 Brian Daubach 10 150 3 0 3 .200 0 Jim Eisenreich 30 649 16 1 7 .250 2 Alex Gonzalez Álex González (shortstop, born 1977) 25 86 11 13 3 7 .151 0 Ryan Jackson Ryan Jackson (baseball, born 1971) 111 26026 65 5 31 .250 1 Charles Johnson Charles Johnson (catcher) 31 11313 25 7 23 .221 0 Randy Knorr 15 494 10 2 11 .204 0 Kevin Millar 2 2 1 1 0 0 .500 0 Kevin Orie 48 17523 46 6 17 .263 1 Mike Piazza 5 18 1 5 0 5 .278 0 Mike Redmond 37 118 10 39 2 12 .331 0 John Roskos 10 10 1 1 0 0 .100 0 Gary Sheffield 40 13621 37 6 28 .272 4 John Wehner 53 88 10 20 0 5 .227 1 Preston Wilson 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 Liván Hernández 33 234.1 10 12 4.72 162 Brian Meadows 31 174.1 11 13 5.21 88 Jesús Sánchez Jesús Sánchez (pitcher) 35 173.0 7 9 4.47 137 Andy Larkin Andy Larkin (baseball) 17 74.2 3 8 9.64 43 Rafael Medina baseball 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 Antonio Alfonseca 58 70.2 4 6 4.08 46 8 Vic Darensbourg 59 71.0 0 7 3.68 74 1 Brian Edmondson 43 59.1 4 3 3.79 32 0 Oscar Henriquez 15 20.0 0 0 8.55 19 0 Felix Heredia 41 41.0 0 3 5.49 38 2 Matt Mantei 42 54.2 3 4 2.96 63 9 Donn Pall 23 33.1 0 1 5.13 26 0 Jay Powell Jay Powell (baseball player) 33 36.1 4 4 4.21 24 3 Justin Speier 18 19.1 0 3 8.38 15 0 Rob Stanifer 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 Ryan Dempster 14 54.2 1 5 7.08 35 0 Eric Ludwick 13 32.2 1 4 7.44 27 0 Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Charlotte Knights International League Fredi González AA Portland Sea Dogs Eastern League Lynn Jones A Brevard County Manatees Florida State League Rick Renteria A Kane County Cougars Midwest League Juan Bustabad A-Short Season Utica Blue Sox New York–Penn League Ken Joyce Rookie GCL Marlins Gulf Coast League Jon DeebleJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007 References 2 External links 1998 Marlins at Baseball Reference 1998 Florida Marlins at Baseball Almanac Category:Miami Marlins seasons Florida Marlins season Miami Marl