Fake Baseball

Simulating the 2020 Marlins—Week 10

The latest simulated Marlins stats and storylines from Baseball-Reference, The Athletic and Strat-O-Matic.

By Ely Sussman@RealEly May 31, 2020, 3:05pm EDT

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The 2020 Marlins regular season is off to a delayed start, but technology is a beautiful thing, ain’t it? Simulation games have created alternative universes in which this much-anticipated campaign is running precisely on schedule, featuring many of the players who were projected to make an impact for the real-life Fish.

At the end of each week, I will do a roundup of how the Marlins are performing.

Dream Bracket 2

You may recall the original MLB Dream Bracket from earlier this year that simulated matchups between rosters of each franchise’s all-time greatest players. The “Dream Seasons” edition is a separate 64-team tournament that uses players from particular years.

The 1997 Marlins beat the 1984 Padres on Tuesday! Gary Sheffield and Moises Alou were big-time run-producers and Alex Fernández had a massive role in clinching Game 7 with eight scoreless innings.

Unfortunately, Florida’s tournament run came to an end Thursday as the club dropped four of five games to the 1960 Pirates.

Baseball-Reference

2020 season record: 25-35

Baseball-Reference is simulating the entire 2020 MLB schedule using the game Out of the Park Baseball 21 (OOTP 21). Results are published daily at around noon ET.

The version of Corey Dickerson that the Marlins were so enamored with in free agency has finally arrived! Dickerson had just one home run in 2020 entering play on May 24, but he’s been on an extra-base binge ever since. The veteran outfielder has stayed healthy thus far and he’s fast approaching the playing time totals he had last season with the Pirates and Phillies.

Welcome to The Show, Monte Harrison! The toolsy prospect made his MLB debut on Saturday, batting leadoff and manning center field.

Individual hitting stats updated through the games of May 31

Individual pitching stats updated through the games of May 31

In one of the most unrealistic transactions imaginable, the Marlins signed old friend Wei-Yin Chen to a minor league deal (Chen began the season on the Mariners, but struggled and was DFA’d).

The Athletic Alternate Universe

2020 season record: 23-37

Just like Baseball-Reference, staff members at The Athletic are using OOTP 21. Editor Or Moyal is serving as general manager for the Marlins.

However, their simulation began after the MLB Opening Day date and they are moving at an accelerated pace. Results for the Marlins are already available through Jul. 29. For those who want to take a deep dive into the organization’s progress, TAAU also provides data for all Minor League Baseball affiliates.

Jonathan Villar is aggressive on the bases. Probably too aggressive—he’s been caught on 18 of 32 attempted steals. Sophomore right-hander Jordan Yamamoto had been trending in the right direction until a clunker on Sunday vs. the Padres (4.1 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 K)

Down at Triple-A Wichita, shortstop Jazz Chisholm was freakin’ incredible throughout the month of May: .291/.386/.682, 11 HR in 127 PA. Almost time for a new challenge?!

Strat-O-Matic

2020 season record: 22-38

The Strat-O-Matic 2020 Season Simulation spits outs its daily details at 2 p.m. ET.

Recently activated Drew Steckenrider hopes to have a significant impact on the mediocre Marlins bullpen. Pablo López has settled back into his rotation spot, plus he’s putting up a team-leading .357 batting average in his limited opportunities at the plate.

Garrett Cooper suffered an injury in Sunday’s victory and will miss approximately 10 games.