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Miami Marlins by Month: August Edition

How have the Marlins fared historically in the dog days of summer?

By Thomas Bennett
Soon enough, fellas.
Soon enough, fellas.
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome Fish Stripers and otherwise curious onlookers to another edition of Miami Marlins by Month! We have reached the penultimate month of the regular season so it's time to take a look back at Miami Marlins past Augusts and see if we can come up with some relevant trends (we wont).

Initially when I started this in April, it was an exercise to exhibit the Marlins' consistent futility in the first month of the baseball slog, but as we've gotten further in the 2016 season, it's become more about showing how much better this team is then the squads of year's past. I'm glad it's turned into that, because losing numbs the soul and winning fills up the bandwagon!

So, for those of you who weren't around at the start of this, welcome! Please review May, June, and July at your leisure. Speaking of July, the Marlins went 16-10 this past month, and have now gone over .500 in each month of this season. Yes, this is the first Miami squad to do that since the opening of Marlins Park. Heck, even the treasured 2003 World Series squad went under .500 (14-15 in April, 12-16 in May) the first couple months of the season before bouncing back the remainder of the way. Pretty impressive considering the overall state of the starting rotation and having to trot out what remains of Don Kelly at first base all month.

So what lies ahead for the Marlins in August? Well, they say that in order understand the present you must know the past, so into history we shall delve!

August 2012: Ozzie Guillen's squad went 12-17 in August, continuing the death spiral that began in June of that year and putting them at 59-73 heading into September. I still cannot believe they got to this point after a 21-8 May. What a tease!

August 2013: 8-20. After getting close to .500 the previous month, the 2013 Marlins absolutely fell off of a cliff in August, putting up a -27 run differential on the month. This stellar month included a four game losing streak, a five game losing streak, and a six game losing streak.

August 2014: The promising '14 Marlins came close to back to back .500 months but fell short in August by a single game, ultimately going 13-14 that month.

August 2015: 11-18. Last year sucked. Brad Hand pitched extensively this month, pretty much telling you everything you need to know about the '15 Marlins.

Now that we've seen where the Marlins have been, let's try and predict where they're heading. Miami hit a sizable speed bump in Chicago, getting swept by a great Cubs team, but the schedule seems more favorable as we look ahead:

The Rockies have been playing well as of late and at 54-54 have thrust themselves into thoughts of wild card contention. It would be best for Miami to go in there strong starting today and crush that dream right quick. After that, you have the Giants who have been pretty strong most of the season, but then the schedule really lightens up with four consecutive series against sub .500 teams before finishing things up in August against the nemesis Mets.

Bold Prediction: Marlins take their fifth consecutive over .500 month, enter September with the top wild card spot.

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