Marlins make dubious history with 0-7 start to open 2024 season after being swept by Angels

The Miami Marlins are now 0-7. The latest loss came in the form of a 10-2 beatdown by the Angels, who have now won four straight after dropping their first two. The Marlins have been outscored 51-24 this season and have already lost pretty much every way possible — blown saves, extra-inning losses, trailing from the start, losing leads, low-scoring losses, slugfest losses, blowout losses, you name it. 

What makes this all worse is that the Marlins are coming off the their’ first full-season playoff berth since 2003. They are now the first team in MLB history to make the postseason and then start the next year with at least seven straight losses, per MLB.com. 

Unfortunately for the Marlins, they are already working up into a range where we need to start talking about the historic futility to start a season. Previously, the longest winless streak to start the year in franchise history was four (1995 and 2001), so they are on the verge of doubling that. 

The MLB record for the longest losing streak to start a season is 21 (1988 Orioles) and the longest in the NL is 14 (1997 Cubs). These Marlins represent the 27th case in history in which a team has gone at least 0-7 to start a season before winning. The last time we saw such a streak was 2016, when both the Braves and Twins started 0-9. 

Last season, the Marlins were 84-78, grabbing the second NL Wild Card. There were a few reasons to expect a backslide anyway, but then the pitching staff was ravaged, further, by injuries this spring and things just have kind of snowballed from there. 

The Marlins haven’t exactly had a schedule that screamed tough heading into the season, either. They started with a four-game series against the Pirates at home. The Pirates were 76-86 last season and most projection systems had them finishing last place in the NL Central. They have breakthrough potential, for sure, but it’s not like the Marlins started in Atlanta. And now Miami has been swept by the Angels, who were projected to be terrible heading into the season. 

Plus, all seven of these losses came at home. 

The Marlins now will head on the road and deal with the Cardinals (3-3 heading into Wednesday’s game) and Yankees (5-1).