MIAMI – Rivalry Weekend is making its debut across Major League Baseball, but the Citrus Series hasn’t been very competitive in recent memory.
Tampa Bay entered Friday night’s series opener having won five of the last six, 13 of the last 15 and 25 of the last 29 against Miami.
Though the Marlins reached the postseason in 2020 and ‘23, sustainable success has been the Rays’ claim with playoff berths in five straight years (‘19-’23) and two American League East titles during that span. In many ways, they’re the model for the Marlins to aspire to, and it helps having former Rays exec Peter Bendix as the organization’s president of baseball operations.
“[They have the] ability to maximize and get the very most out of everyone on their roster, and they continue to do a very good job of bringing guys up through their system as well as acquiring players from outside that fit kind of what they're doing, so I think they're in some ways like us,” manager Clayton McCullough said.
“Pounding the strike zone as a pitching staff, athletic multi-positional players are things that we also value highly, and we're going to continue to push with our guys controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides, pitching and hitting. It's a good recipe for winning. And they've done – certainly the last seven, eight years – been on a very good run.”
Miami delivered the first blow in the 2025 rivalry, as Connor Norby and Eric Wagaman combined for five RBIs in a 9-4 victory at loanDepot park. Every batter in the lineup collected at least one hit, and the club drew seven walks.
After a 2-4 road trip in Chicago, where the Marlins went 5-for-49 (.102) with runners in scoring position and left 43 men on base, Miami used Thursday’s off-day as a reset. The club got off to a fast start on Wagaman’s sacrifice fly in the first.
“I thought it was awesome, like one through nine tonight,” Wagaman said. “Pitching, I thought Max [Meyer] did a great job, even though he got hit twice by some comebackers, battled right through it and didn't seem to let it affect him.
“If we can just keep that type of baseball rolling, obviously, that'd be ideal. But it was just good to see, like this week, starting off one through nine, getting going on the right foot, hopefully just kind of carries over for a while.”
With the game tied at 1 in the fourth, the Marlins scored four two-out runs against right-hander Taj Bradley. Agustín Ramírez worked an eight-pitch walk with the bases loaded, and Norby followed with a bases-clearing double.
When Tampa Bay responded with three runs in the fifth, Miami put together another big inning with a four-run sixth. Kyle Stowers, Wagaman and Javier Sanoja produced RBI singles, while Ronny Simon added a sac fly.
“I think we just were due for a breakout at some point,” Norby said. “We had a tough stretch scoring runs there in Chicago. We felt like we left a lot of chances out there that we didn't capitalize on. I thought tonight, we just strung at-bats together, and it was cool to see finally. It felt like just a long time coming that one through nine. We were just putting up a fight. And we're tough getting out, so it was big nights all around.”
The Marlins did so without Xavier Edwards, who was scratched from the lineup with back tightness and will undergo testing. In his place, Sanoja started at short and Jesús Sánchez, Miami’s longest-tenured position player and Tampa Bay’s former farmhand, walked twice, singled and scored three runs as the leadoff batter.
“How many times did I say it already, like it's going to happen a lot faster than what people realize?” Norby said of Miami’s rebuild. “We have been in a lot of tight games this year, right? And we haven't played great completely yet, and that's something to be excited about, because once we start clicking, those are wins, and we have a really good group in here and guys that love each other and want to play for each other, and that's exciting.
“It's exciting to come to the ballpark every day. It's fun. There's never a day where you're just like, ‘Dang, I've got to come here today.’ Like, no, it doesn't happen here. We've got 27 guys every single night that are grinding and play for each other, and that's what's fun.”