JUPITER, Fla. — The goal for every club in Major League Baseball is to win the World Series.
For a young Miami Marlins squad that was playing with house money throughout the 2025 season, they exceeded all expectations in year one under manager Clayton McCullough.
With a year of experience under his belt, McCullough’s Marlins hope to take the next step and bring playoff baseball back to South Florida.
The team has been working at its spring training facility in Jupiter and will play its first Grapefruit League game Saturday against the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie at 1:10 p.m. ET.
The Marlins eliminated the Mets from playoff contention in the 2025 regular-season finale.
Injuries at the pitching position were the Marlins’ undoing in 2025, but McCullough told members of the media that all pitchers, except reliever Ronny Henriquez, who is out for the 2026 season, are healthy.
Left-hander Braxton Garrett was sidelined the entire 2025 season because he underwent surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his throwing elbow. Right-hander Max Meyer had a very strong April in 2025 before struggling in May and making just one start in June.
Meyer would go on to miss the latter part of the 2025 season because he underwent season-ending surgery to repair a labral tear in his left hip after dealing with a left hip impingement and related issues.
The Marlins placed him on the injured list in early June and eventually had labral-repair surgery.
Neither will start on Opening Day March 27 at loanDepot park, as that responsibility was given to right-hander Sandy Alcantara for the sixth time in his Marlins career.
If all goes well over the next month, both Garrett and Meyer could find themselves in the five-man starting rotation alongside Alcantara, Eury Pérez and Chris Paddack.
Paddack, signed to a one-year, $4 million deal in February, was drafted by the Marlins in the eighth round of the 2015 draft.
One big storyline to follow this spring is who will win the first base job.
The Marlins have been rotating players at the position, from newly signed Christopher Morel to Griffin Conine – the son of Marlins great Jeff Conine – to Connor Norby.
Conine has been taking reps at first base as he works to add versatility to his game.
The same goes for Norby, who primarily plays third base.
Left-hander Robby Snelling, a Top 100 prospect, will take the mound for the Marlins in their Grapefruit League opener Saturday.
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