2019 Fish Stripes Bracket Challenge

During the brief period between the start of the NCAA Tournament and MLB Opening Day, baseball historically gets pushed to the back burner. Not around here it won’t! Fish Stripes is joining the bracket craze and putting a Marlins spin on it.

Here are 64 past and present Marlins players who I have selected, seeded and split into four regions. It is a single-elimination format. Over the next week, you will be asked to choose the winner of each matchup—using whatever criteria you want—by voting in daily polls posted to @fishstripes on Twitter. On March 27, we will announce the bracket champion.

I project a lot of upsets...and a lot of fans feeling upset that their favorite players didn’t qualify.

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Batter Region

These are the all-time top 16 Marlins position players in FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement (fWAR). They were seeded according to fWAR.

Seeds: 1) Giancarlo Stanton, 2) Hanley Ramírez, 3) Luis Castillo, 4) Miguel Cabrera, 5) Christian Yelich, 6) Dan Uggla, 7) Mike Lowell, 8) Jeff Conine, 9) Cliff Floyd, 10) Marcell Ozuna, 11) Gary Sheffield, 12) J.T. Realmuto, 13) Charles Johnson, 14) Derrek Lee, 15) Dee Gordon, 16) Juan Pierre

Pitcher Region

These are the all-time top 16 Marlins pitchers in FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement (fWAR). They were seeded according to fWAR.

Seeds: 1) Josh Johnson, 2) Ricky Nolasco, 3) Dontrelle Willis, 4) A.J. Burnett, 5) José Fernández, 6) Josh Beckett, 7) Kevin Brown, 8) Brad Penny, 9) Aníbal Sánchez, 10) Carl Pavano, 11) Ryan Dempster, 12) Alex Fernandez, 13) Pat Rapp, 14) Robb Nen, 15) Chris Hammond, 16) Steve Cishek

Shooting Star Region

These 16 players didn’t qualify for the first two regions, but still had great individual seasons with the Marlins. Various stats and intangibles were used to determine the seeding.

Seeds: 1) Iván Rodríguez, 2) Al Leiter, 3) Moises Alou, 4) Mark Redman, 5) Henderson Álvarez, 6) Edgar Rentería, 7) Armando Benítez, 8) Carlos Delgado, 9) José Reyes, 10) Kevin Millar, 11) Martín Prado, 12) Cody Ross, 13) Preston Wilson, 14) Chris Coghlan, 15) Emilio Bonifacio, 16) Javier Vázquez

Active Region

These 16 players each contributed to the Marlins last season and remain with the organization entering 2019. Various stats and intangibles were used to determine the seeding.

Seeds: 1) Lewis Brinson, 2) Miguel Rojas, 3) Brian Anderson, 4) José Ureña, 5) Pablo López, 6) Trevor Richards, 7) Starlin Castro, 8) Sandy Alcántara, 9) Austin Dean, 10) Caleb Smith, 11) Dan Straily, 12) Peter O’Brien, 13) Tayron Guerrero, 14) JT Riddle, 15) Drew Steckenrider, 16) Jarlin García

So here’s the full picture:

Voting will take place exclusively at the Fish Stripes Twitter account.

Here’s the schedule:

• Round of 64—Polls open Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. ET
• Round of 32—Polls open Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. ET
• Sweet 16—Polls open Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. ET
• Elite Eight—Polls open Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. ET
• Final Four—Polls open Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. ET
• Championship—Polls open Tuesday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. ET

In case you aren’t on Twitter, we will provide voting updates here on FishStripes.com after each round.