‘We’re all tired of losing’: Marlins hold players-only meeting to ‘come out of a funk’

The frustrations of the Miami Marlins’ woeful second half of the season had finally boiled over.

So after their 5-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, their fifth consecutive loss and 17th overall defeat in 22 games since returning from the All-Star Break, Marlins players assembled in the clubhouse to address where things stand. For about 20 minutes, they hashed everything out.

There was no finger-pointing. There was no individual criticism or assigning blame.

There was, however, a mutual understanding.

“We’re all tired of losing,” shortstop Joey Wendle said.

The hope, from the players’ perspective, was saying everything out loud that they had been feeling internally could provide that spark that had been eluding them for close to a month now.

The Marlins’ spiral since the All-Star Break had dropped them from the second-best record in the National League and looking like a surefire playoff contender to being on the outside looking in of the postseason, stuck near the back of a tight pack of seven teams competing for three wild card spots.

“After the All-Star Break, we’ve been playing bad baseball,” outfielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler said. “It’s something we have seen. It’s just that pressure. Everybody has been getting that pressure. You want to do it all.”

Wendle, one of the team’s veterans who has been a vocal presence in the clubhouse all season, described the meeting as “an opportunity to talk and address some of the issues that have been plaguing us lately.” Right-handed pitcher Johnny Cueto called it “very chill, just talking to each other as teammates.” Multiple players were involved in initiating the meeting after the game, according to Wendle.

“Guys were just trying to be encouraging,” Wendle said. “Nobody wants to be playing bad as an individual or as a team. Don’t want to get too much into details, but it was a really good meeting overall. It wasn’t anybody coming down at anybody. Just we’ve got to pull together as a team. Good teams come out of funks like this. We’re a good team. Hopefully we can come out of a funk.”

First-year Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, who had an 11-year playing career of his own from 2005-2015, had been part of many player-only meetings during his career. While he wasn’t a participant in this meeting, he does have a pulse on how the players have operated this season.

“They’ve been holding themselves accountable,” Schumaker said. “There’s no pointing fingers. We’re all in this together. I don’t think it’s individualized. When you have those type of team meetings, that’s when it can get toxic. This wasn’t that type of meeting. It was like, ‘OK, let’s get back to our roots. This is who we are. More of the first-half Miami Marlins and not the second.’”

Their first game after that meeting was a step in the right direction. The Marlins ended the losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Reds. Soler hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning. Left-handed pitcher Braxton Garrett pitched six strong innings before turning it over to the bullpen, with Andrew Nardi, Tanner Scott and David Robertson combining for three shutout innings to seal the win.

After the game ended, Marlins players assembled in the clubhouse. It was a much different feeling than when they did the same thing 24 hours earlier.

“Definitely in a better mood today,” said Robertson, one of the handful of additions the Marlins made at the trade deadline. “I mean, heck, we’ve been losing for about a week now since I came over. It’s nice to finally turn it around and win one of these tight games.”

Now, one win is not going to flip the Marlins’ season. At 59-56, Miami is still a half game out of the wild-card picture, with the Reds and Chicago Cubs ahead of them for the final postseason spot in the National League with 47 games left to play.

But the Marlins had to start somewhere. And for one night, fortunes went back in their favor. The goal now is to find a way to keep that momentum in their favor.

“Everyone’s happy,” Robertson said. “You see them walking out with smiles. It’s a good feeling. You forget the losses real quick when you win.”