From the Herald, their list of five worst Marlins seasons but I'm posting it more because I think this list is quite debatable except for maybe '98 and 2012... Read the list and tell us if you agree or disagree or what other seasons should be on this list...

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article254462793.html

They went with 1998, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2021, here's the write up:

Quote

 

1. 1998 team: 54-108

The Marlins’ 1997 World Series celebration didn’t last long. Shortly after, owner H. Wayne Huizenga conducted the franchise’ first “fire sale” by jettisoning Moises Alou, Devon White, Robb Nen, Kevin Brown, Al Leiter and even Mr. Marlin Jeff Conine.

After winning against the Cubs on opening day, the Marlins lost 11 in a row. Just more than a month later, Florida traded Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla and Charles Johnson and acquired Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza, who they then flipped to the Mets several days later. Cliff Floyd and Derrek Lee were two rare bright spots. The 1998 season ranks first on our list because the Marlins posted their worst won/loss record in franchise history.

2. 2012 team: 69-93

To generate excitement to coincide with the opening of Marlins Park, owner Jeffrey Loria went on a massive spending spree, adding Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell. Young outfielder Giancarlo Stanton was about to become a star. Things went downhill quickly.

Manager Ozzie Guillen made controversial comments regarding Fidel Castro and was suspended by the team for five games in April. Bell imploded as the team’s new closer, ex-National League batting champion Hanley Ramirez regressed, and the season was regrettably documented on Showtime’s ill-fated “The Franchise,” which had one episode focus on the players’ wives watching a Marlins game at a restaurant while eating sushi. That offseason, Loria traded Reyes, Buehrle and ace Josh Johnson.

3. 2013 team: 62-100

The Marlins did not fare any better in 2013 after dismantling much of the 2012 team.

Guillen was fired, and former Marlins catcher Mike Redmond was hired to navigate what appeared to be another rebuild. Miami finished at the bottom of virtually every statistical offensive category. Stanton was limited to just 116 games, and Justin Ruggiano was the only other player on the roster with double-digit home runs. After climbing to 12th among 16 National League teams in attendance in the first year of the new ballpark, the Marlins slid to last in that category in 2013.

The only positive: Jose Fernandez made the All-Star Team and won National League Rookie of the Year. He won 12 of Miami’s 62 games that season.

4. 2015 team: 71-91

The 2015 Marlins looked initially like they had the recipe for success: a young, talented outfield of Stanton, Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna; a promising young catcher in J.T. Realmuto, and veteran pickups Michael Morse, Mat Latos, Dee Gordon and Ichiro Suzuki.

But the Marlins fired Redmond after 38 games and promoted GM Dan Jennings to manager, which shocked baseball people. Infielder Jeff Baker reportedly handed out clown noses to teammates to express displeasure with Jennings’ hiring. Baker was released on July 31 and never played another game in the big leagues. Stanton missed most of the season with injuries and Ozuna was demoted in an apparent attempt to limit his service time.

5. 2021 Miami Marlins: 64-91 entering final week.

The 2019 Marlins lost 105 games in the second year of the Bruce Sherman-Derek Jeter ownership regime, but there was never a real sense that team was poised to compete. But this season is a different story, because the Marlins were coming off a playoff berth in the COVID-shortened 2020 season and expected to be competitive. That’s why 2021 comes in fifth on this list, because far more was expected.

The Marlins couldn’t consistently score runs; got nothing from new closer Anthony Bass; traded Adam Duvall (second in the NL in home runs) for a catcher who strikes out more than half of his at-bats (Alex Jackson); failed to strike a longterm deal with Starling Marte and traded him for a pitching project with a 6.92 ERA (Jesus Luzardo); and saw its pitching staff beset by injuries (Pablo Lopez, Sixto Sanchez, Elieser Hernandez and others).

 

 

Worst or disappointing? 2012 and 2015 were disappointing, obviously 1998 is by far the worst season followed closely by 2013 but I'd also include 2018 and 2019 along with this year among the worst, hard to believe Mattingly still has a job with 3 seasons in the worst overall 

1 hour ago, fanofthefish said:

hard to believe Mattingly still has a job with 3 seasons in the worst overall 

And he has the most wins, too! That says more to me that they've kept him the longest rather than him being so good at helping the club win games.

I believe we have countless ones. 

3 hours ago, taiwanmarlin said:

I believe we have countless ones. 

The team has had only 29 seasons. We can count to 29 and at least two were great!

15 hours ago, QbanCastillo said:

And he has the most wins, too! That says more to me that they've kept him the longest rather than him being so good at helping the club win games.

He also has the most losses so that stat is definitely more about tenure than success. I was glad to see Donnie downplay it when this was brought up to him.

20 hours ago, fanofthefish said:

Worst or disappointing? 2012 and 2015 were disappointing, obviously 1998 is by far the worst season followed closely by 2013 but I'd also include 2018 and 2019 along with this year among the worst, hard to believe Mattingly still has a job with 3 seasons in the worst overall 

By winning percentage, 2019 was worse than 2013.

1998 was a good season and offseason, by comparision to what 2012 and 2018 have been.

I would count 1998 among our 5 best, and let it be the imposter among the best.

 

 Best in no order other than chronological,

1996 (building),

997 (WS),

1998 (Rebuild),

2003 (Successful Rebuild / WS),

2006 (Rookies/Hopes),

2013 (Jofer),

2017 (Stanton MVP).

2020 may barely make the cut because of the optimism out of covid but if you cut down to 5, the above are the ones to trim from.

LoL I didn’t know that about Baker

1 hour ago, pollythewog said:

LoL I didn’t know that about Baker

Yeah they played circus music after wins and he brought clown noses in one day lol. He got released for being a “bad influence”

Word probably got around about what happened and it may have hurt his chances of joining another organization.  

13 hours ago, pollythewog said:

LoL I didn’t know that about Baker

If you'd visited Marlinsbaseball.com you would have known it.

12 hours ago, SonOfJack said:

Yeah they played circus music after wins and he brought clown noses in one day lol. He got released for being a “bad influence”

Word probably got around about what happened and it may have hurt his chances of joining another organization.  

He was out of line but he wasn't wrong. I was more bothered that it exemplified the poor relationship between the clubhouse and the FO at the time and I'm glad they seem to have grown past that level of disconnect.

16 hours ago, Piazza31 said:

I would count 1998 among our 5 best,

This is a pure homer line from you. 1998 was a complete embarrassment. I know what that season led to and I know you love Piazza but that season itself was God awful.

13 hours ago, SonOfJack said:

Yeah they played circus music after wins and he brought clown noses in one day lol. He got released for being a “bad influence”

Word probably got around about what happened and it may have hurt his chances of joining another organization.  

To add to that, he was super critical of the front office and their requirements for players to interact with fans and charity events. Supposedly the final straw was him convincing Christian Yelich not to attend a event at an elementary school and to dictate when he was available.

They didn't want Baker ruining what kind of person, teammate and major leaguer he would eventually become... as they thought very highly of Yelich.

1 hour ago, SilverBullet said:

If you'd visited Marlinsbaseball.com you would have known it.

How do I join?

1 hour ago, SilverBullet said:

This is a pure homer line from you. 1998 was a complete embarrassment. I know what that season led to and I know you love Piazza but that season itself was God awful.

hey I love Pizza too 

1 hour ago, el_gmac said:

hey I love Pizza too 

Pizza is life

there is some fairly major recentency bias here if you ask me. 

3 hours ago, SilverBullet said:

This is a pure homer line from you. 1998 was a complete embarrassment. I know what that season led to and I know you love Piazza but that season itself was God awful.

Believe me when I tell you, I really enjoyed 1998 and seeing the moves. 1997 was the appetizer, 1998 was the main course that gave me diareah just before 2003's dessert.

Remember in 1998 we had Livan, Dempster, Mantei (who became Penny), Alfonseca and in the lineup- Kotsay, Floyd, Renteria, Counsell,

Not to mention looks at Derek Lee, Alex Gonzalez, Luis Castillo, Preston Wilson, Josh Booty, Kevin Millar, Mike Redmond.

That 1998 team was memorable, and really was a joy to watch- even if they got their teeth kicked in and the circumstances changed from 97 to 98.

 

39 minutes ago, Das Texan said:

there is some fairly major recentency bias here if you ask me. 

IDK 2021 is really, really bad.....

Sincerely,
Tim Kurkjian

3 minutes ago, Piazza31 said:

Believe me when I tell you, I really enjoyed 1998 and seeing the moves. 1997 was the appetizer, 1998 was the main course that gave me diareah just before 2003's dessert.

Remember in 1998 we had Livan, Dempster, Mantei (who became Penny), Alfonseca and in the lineup- Kotsay, Floyd, Renteria, Counsell,

Not to mention looks at Derek Lee, Alex Gonzalez, Luis Castillo, Preston Wilson, Josh Booty, Kevin Millar, Mike Redmond.

That 1998 team was memorable, and really was a joy to watch- even if they got their teeth kicked in and the circumstances changed from 97 to 98.

 

TO add.... I was also 11. Mike Piazza was here 5 games. 1998 is probably what got me facinated with free agent moves, trades and transactions in all sports. Basketballs offseason is fun as hell.

14 minutes ago, Piazza31 said:

Believe me when I tell you, I really enjoyed 1998 and seeing the moves. 1997 was the appetizer, 1998 was the main course that gave me diareah just before 2003's dessert.

Remember in 1998 we had Livan, Dempster, Mantei (who became Penny), Alfonseca and in the lineup- Kotsay, Floyd, Renteria, Counsell,

Not to mention looks at Derek Lee, Alex Gonzalez, Luis Castillo, Preston Wilson, Josh Booty, Kevin Millar, Mike Redmond.

That 1998 team was memorable, and really was a joy to watch- even if they got their teeth kicked in and the circumstances changed from 97 to 98.

 

No I read ya, I'm not arguing that you enjoyed it... I'm just saying there's a very short list of people who enjoyed that season and overall, for most Marlins fans, it's without question one of the worst seasons they've ever had. 

I was a big fan of Todd Dunnwoody

People tend to forget that 1998 was not a stand alone season. 1999 they lost 98 games as well. That season should be on this list as well.