BLUEPRINT: Marlins Attendance CRISIS—Will Sandy Alcantara & Young Talent DRIVE a Fan Revolution?

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The Miami-Marlins have struggled to get fans in the ballpark for years, but the answer to this problem was solved by the Florida Panthers just a few years ago. You are Lockdown Marlins, your daily podcast on the Miami-Marlins. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, I'm Jamie Goldman, and welcome into another edition of the Lockdown Marlins podcast. Now the number one podcast network. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandall, during the tournament, Fandall is offering $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days. Visit Fandall.com to get started.

1:02On today's show, we will take a look ahead to the Marlins weekend series with the Yankees plus a quick history lesson on the two franchises. There's a lot more than you'd think between these two interleague squats. But we start today with the Marlins attendance issues. If you're a Marlins fan for five years, if you're a Marlins fan for 10 years, if you're a Marlins fan, since their inception, you know that this team has had a hard time getting fans to the ballpark, no matter if they're playing at some live stadium, Dolphin Stadium, Joe Robbie, whatever you want to call that previous building they played in, or Marlins Park, Lone Depot, Park, or whatever the next name will be. It's been tough to get fans to the ballpark down in South Florida. Going to ESPN's attendance numbers for Major League Baseball. Miami is dead last so far this season for teams that have played, not every team has played a home game yet. We're only through six games of the young Major League Baseball season. Last year, Marlins ranked 28th in the majors just ahead of the raise in the athletics.

2:08A note on that, the raise played in Steinbrenner Field. That's the Yankees Spring Training location. It's a smaller ballpark. So the lack of fans make sense and the athletics played in a triple A stadium in Sacramento. So that one also makes sense why they had a lack of fans as well. The Marlins have been in the bottom five of Major League Baseball attendance every year since 2013. So it's been a rough go of it for a while for the fifth. Yes, Lone Depot Park is not the easiest ballpark to get to. It's down in Little Havana. It's kind of a tough place to maneuver if you're from South Florida. You know this. If you're a Marlins fan, you know this. It's not impossible. But I will say, the World Baseball Classic just a couple of weeks ago, a month ago, at this point, proved that Miami and Lone Depot Park can be the venue for electric baseball being played. As we saw that all throughout the World Baseball Classic right here in South Florida,

3:13Miami and it was popping in Lone Depot Park for a bunch of those games, no matter who was playing. Most of them had packs, crowds. Those Dominican crowds were unbelievable. The Venezuelan crowd was unbelievable. So there is a market for baseball here in South Florida. Why haven't the Marlins been able to kind of capitalize and catapult their fan base to a sustained fan base that comes out every day. They get a good crowd. I heard Sandy all contra mention this after his complete game shut out yesterday, or on Wednesday. Excuse me. He said, there's no fans here, but we love him anyways. And I don't I don't know where that comment spurred from to be fair. Give Marlins fans a little bit of a pass. It was a Wednesday afternoon game at one 10 p.m. People have lives. People have jobs. Most people work a nine to five. You know, it makes sense that that particular game had a lack of attendance. But of the numbers I just read, this is not a one time thing.

4:16This is a common theme for the Miami Marlins. So I want to take a quick look across town to their neighbors that also play a professional sport down here in South Florida. And that's the Florida Panthers. You guys don't know me too well at this point. This is only my third episode on the Locked On Marlins podcast. But you'll come to know as much as I am a baseball guy, I am just as much if not more a bigger hockey guy. I am a big Florida Panthers fan. I've been with this team through the ups and the down. There's been a lot of down for the last couple of years have been fantastic. But if you're down here in South Florida, you know that for years, the Florida Panthers were never a big draw. They were on the back burner for people down here in South Florida, sports fans down here in South Florida, the Panthers game for a long time was kind of just a social event. Hey, you want to go to the Panthers game tonight? Yeah, tickets are cheap 10 bucks, whatever. Yeah, we'll sit wherever we want the place will be empty. They'll probably lose and we'll go have a good time at the cat's game.

5:18But over the last couple of seasons, that narrative has changed a complete 180. In the last couple of years, the Panthers have become the premier destination of hockey of the NHL and of course, the two Stanley cups shows that. But their attendance numbers go right along with this. So I'll take you through some quick numbers from the Florida Panthers attendance over recent seasons. So in 2018, they were 28th in the NHL in 2019. They were 30th in the NHL. That's one spot ahead of dead last 29th and 2020. There was no data for 2021. That was the COVID year. 24th in 2022, 26th in 2023. The Panthers snuck into the playoffs in 2023. They ended up making it to the Stanley Cup. And then they won the Stanley Cup the following two seasons. So 24, 25, they won the Stanley Cup 2023. Kind of got the run started where they made it to the Stanley Cup.

6:20And oh boy, did their attendance numbers jump after that? 9th. So 26th in 2023, they jumped all the way up to the top 10 in the NHL. 9th in 2024. Last season, they were 5th. Top five for the Florida Panthers in 2025. And so far this season, they are 3rd. Top three in the NHL in attendance. And they're having a rough season right now. It's not like their world beaters right now. Chances are they're going to miss the playoffs with only a couple of games remaining on that Panther schedule. They've been beaten up with injuries. They're in rough shape. Yet the fans are still coming to the arena. Why is this? I'll get into that. The Panthers have done something that the Marlins and the Panthers before this run have struggled to do. And that's a couple of things. One sustained success. The Panthers were never anything. Their biggest season was in 1996 when they made the Stanley Cup.

7:21After that, I don't think they had a series win until the mid 2010s, maybe even 2020s. So the Panthers were bottom dwellers of the NHL for years. But in the last couple of years, they built a core. They got Bill Zido in here as the general manager. And they committed to winning. They built a core and they sustained this core with guys like Alexander Barkoff. He's the pillar, he's the captain. Sergei Babroski, your backstop, your goal tender, your reliable goal tender that's been out there every season. So the Panthers see this guy year in and year out. Same thing with guys like Aaron Eckblatt. He's been here since he got drafted. Guys like Carter Verhagi have been here for a long time. And then, of course, the big trade for Matthew Kuchuk, that really changed the culture of Florida Panthers hockey down here in South Florida. So not only did they win a couple of Stanley cups, but they have a group of guys that South Florida fans can get attached to, can really fall in love with and remain fall in love with while they continue their careers.

8:25The Panthers have done a great job of identifying talent and then locking up that talent for big years, for multiple year contracts. We saw that last season. They had a couple of guys that looked like they were going to hit free agency. The Panthers made it a priority to bring these guys back, to bring Eckblatt back, to bring Sam Bennett back. Same thing with Brad Martian. And now these are pillars of the organization. The Panthers gave the Marlins the blueprint. Now the Marlins need to execute. And they're making steps in the right direction. A five and one start to this season. That's a great start. That gets the ball rolling for this Marlins team. But another big part of this, yes, winning is huge. The Marlins blindly ran themselves into two World Series championships in 1997 and 2003. But the years that followed those championships, the roster was decimated. It was a completely new group of faces. There was nobody from that 97 or the O3 team that you could really latch onto and be a fan of

9:27for years and years to come. And that I think has been one of the main downfalls of the Marlins and the fact that they haven't been able to get fans and sustain fans in the ballpark. It comes down to winning and it comes down to faces that you know, names that you can recognize day in and day out. They had a little bit of that going with the Jose Fernandez. If you look over my left shoulder, you'll see him for those of you on video. The Jose Fernandez, John Carlo, Stan will get into him later as we're playing the Yanks this weekend, guys like Christian, the LH Marcello, Zuna. I fell in love with that team as a young Marlins fan. But next thing you knew, Stan's a Yankee, Yelich is a brewer. Ozone gets dealt. J.T. Real Muto, he was another guy a part of that kind of crew. And he got moved to the Phillies. And all of a sudden you blink and that entire team that you fell in love with is gone. And you got to fall in love with a whole new group of guys. And it was just constant revolving door of Marlins players. And that's what we've seen year in and year out.

10:29And it was coupled with some really rough years in there where your seasons over by July and you're looking towards the off season after the All Star break and August and September are basically nonfactors on the schedule. They need to be playing competitive baseball if they want to get fans. That is number one priority for the Marlins. And I think they made a great move bringing in Peter Bendix to kind of run this franchise because he's done it. And not only has he done it, he's done it in a situation very similar to what the Marlins are in. He was with the Tampa Bay race. So it's not like this guy made his success with the Dodgers or the Metz or the Yankees or a team that has all this money to spend and compete with those big ballers like the teams I just mentioned. No, he did it with the race. A team that has a very limited cap structure and they are limited by the money that they can shell out to big time free agents. The Marlins are the same way. And Bendix is a great evaluator of talent. He's great at identifying talent

11:30and we're already seeing that in the first couple of seasons of Bendix ball. So the Marlins bottom line, they need to get sustained success. They need to put together a group, a core group of guys in my opinion, it should be Sandy, Yuri, Owen Casey, guys like maybe Augustine Ramirez if he bursts onto the scene. Jacob Marcy, Otto Lopez, Xavier Edwards. They have exciting young talent. Now the key is developing that talent, sustaining that talent and locking these guys up to some big time, long time contracts. I know that's tough with the limitations of the Marlins payroll, but you gotta be able to give the fans something to come back to, something to remember and say, yeah, I fell in love with Kyle Stowers last year. I'm excited to see him come back from injury this year. I'm excited to see him at the ballpark this season. So bottom line, the Panthers laid the blueprint for the Marlins and the Marlins now need to follow that

12:30blueprint if they ever wanna get some real sustained fan base in the ballpark, in loan depot moving forward. But coming up next, as the Marlins get set to head to the Bronx, I'll dive into the history between these two franchises, including how the Marlins have kind of had the Yankees numbers, have the, have had the Yankees number over the years, so don't go anywhere. That's all coming up right after the break. The tournament is here. One of the best times of the year, its March, it's already April, tournaments getting down to it, brackets, buzzer beaters, upsets, it's non-stop action from tip to final cut down. And right now, Fandall is giving new customers a way to stay in the action all tournament long. Here's the best part, you get up to $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days. That means 10 chances to stay involved throughout the entire tournament,

13:31final four coming up here. You can mix it up however you want, game picks, futures, same game parlays, whatever you want to do, it's there for you on Fandall. It's perfect for the tournament, it's perfect for Major League Baseball because every day there's something new, different matchups, new storylines, and more ways to get involved as the bracket or the season unfolds. So visit fandall.com to sign up today. That's fandall.com to get in on the action. Baseball is finally back and to celebrate, I'm giving you a full month of the every day or club for free, go to lockdonmarlins.supercast.com and use code finally. You'll unlock every episode, add free, and get access to our private listener group chat, tap the link in the show notes, and use code finally to claim your free month. Now, Marlins Yankees this weekend,

14:32Marlins Yankees this weekend, the fish get their first real test of the season, heading up to the Bronx this weekend. It's two juggernauts of a team, five in one Marlins, five in one Yankees. Heavyweight battle coming up this weekend. And I kind of want to go through a little bit of the history between these two franchise. You wouldn't think Marlins Yankees, AL, NL, two teams that don't see each other too much. How much history can there really be? Well, let me tell you. So first things first, I want to get this out of the way. This might be more of a Yankees stat more than the Marlins, but I view it as a Marlins stat myself. The Marlins are the only team in baseball that has an all-time winning record against the Yankees. I know that's hard to believe that just shows honestly the sustained success that the Yankees have had as a franchise, but the Marlins only team in baseball, they're 25 and 24 over the Yankees all-time. This includes postseason. So the Marlins have had the Yankees number as great as the Yankees have been. They've struggled against the fight and fish.

15:33In recent history, last season, the Marlins had that exhilarating sweep over the Yankees. This was a part of that run that the Marlins made to get back to 500. The Marlins actually did get back to 500 against the Yankees. The Marlins started last season rough. As many of you know, they were 29 and 44 to start the year. And that's when the switch flipped. The Marlins turned it on after that, getting hot at the right time. They even were in the playoff push for a little bit. It was exciting baseball, late in the season. And a lot of that had to do with this series right here. It kind of all culminated when the Yankees came to Miami to face the Marlins loan deep up part last week in the first week of August. It was August. I think it was first through third. The Marlins got a sweep. The most memorable game of that series was a 13 to 12 marathon. When for the Marlins where they came back, they were down nine to four in that ball game. And they came all the way back.

16:35They took the lead 10 to nine. And then they blew it 10 to nine. It was 12 to 10. The Yankees came back in the ninth. And then the Marlins came back with an electric bottom of the ninth. 13 to 12 was your final in that game. I was in the ballpark for that. That was one of the most electric. I've seen loan deep up part, world baseball classic aside. But as far as Marlins baseball, that place was jumping. Obviously the crowd was a little bit bigger. There was a lot of Yankees fans. There was a lot of Marlins fans. It was kind of a mixed kind of crowd. But the fish sent the Yankees fans home with their heads in their hands. They couldn't believe what they just saw in a 13 to 12 absolute marathon, absolute roller coaster type of a game. And once again, I mentioned the Marlins got back to 55 and 55 during that series. A lot of people didn't think the Marlins were really going to do anything last season. And it looked that way coming out of the gates. And then you get hot in July.

17:35You get hot in August. And you get all the way back to 55 and 55. That was kind of like the, I'd say, the peak of the Marlins season last year because after that moment, and it took a lot of work to get back to 55 and 55. But after that, the fish kind of cooled off. They ended up falling to 65 and 77 at one point. The fish did end of the season really strong after falling 12 games under 500. They finished the year 79 and 83. And that's how the year wrapped up. But that Yankees series last year was the peak. If you remember that series, it was a sight to see, for sure. The Marlins of course secured their second franchise world series in 2003 over the Yankees. Who can forget that six game thriller? Josh Beckett's complete game shut out in game six. Maybe the most memorable moment in Marlins history. Mike Lowell had two hits in game six, came over in a trade from Yankees in 1999.

18:37And of course, Jeff Konheim, father of Griffin Konheim, scored the insurance run in that game to put the Marlins up, two to nothing. The Marlins ended up getting the win, two to nothing in that game. So incredible piece of Marlins history came over the Yankees in 2003. All wrapped this with a couple of notable trades, which will kind of lead me into our final segment, looking ahead to Marlins and Yankees this weekend. As I just mentioned the moment I go, Marlins got Mike Lowell, one of the franchise heroes from the Yankees back in 1999. That was in exchange for Todd Noel, Mark Johnson, and Ed Yarnal. Ed Yarnal was the most usage of those guys on the other side of that trade. Obviously, Lowell, the Marlins hero, he's made quite his mark in Marlins history and Ed Yarnal pitched 20 innings for the Yankees from 99 to 2000. So safe to say, the Marlins won that one. Another couple of notable trades.

19:39First, Marlins traded John Carlos, Stanton, Big G, my favorite player growing up. This was a tough day. When the fish traded away, Stanton, they got Starlin Castro and a couple of prospects back. Starlin spent two seasons in Miami. He was okay, he was solid, but nothing to really write home about. And then he was off to Washington and his time in Miami came to an end. And of course, the Marlins traded jazz chisel to the Yankees in exchange for Augustin Ramirez, two guys that'll be featured in this series this weekend as the fish head to the Bronx. Two guys that have not been off to the greatest start to the season for jazz. He's batting 174 for the first two series. One RBI, no home runs and Augustin Ramirez hasn't been much better. He's batting 188. He's also searching for his first home run of the season. We'll touch on that a little bit later. But coming up, we'll wrap things up with a series preview as we take a look at the newest chapter

20:40in Yankees, Marlin, Saga, as well as my second goldies, Garant of the season. That's all coming up right after this. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It's not you against the house. It's you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your positions live all game long. Use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter. Robin Hood prediction markets changes the game. It's people moving the action. So when momentum shifts, you can move with it. I always knew the game, but never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge. Now I can actually take part live in a market powered by people. You're no longer just a spectator. Play by play, you decide. Trade every play with Robin Hood, now available across the US. Download the Robin Hood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involve significant risk

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22:44Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job, the premium status it deserves at indeed.com slash podcast. So just go to the indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast, terms and conditions applied. Need to hire this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. And finally, that brings us to our final segment here today. It'll be a weekend preview as the Marlins get ready to face off against the Yankees plus another goldies guarantee. So we'll start looking ahead to the Marlins and the Yankees this weekend. I once again want to mention the Marlins only team in baseball

23:47out of all the 29 teams other than the Yankees, the Marlins are the only one that has an all time winning record against the Yankees. They're 25 and 24 all time. This includes that six game world series series in 2003 that we just talked about a moment ago. The Dodgers are second place as far as Yankees opponents. They're 46 and 50 against the Yankees all time, but nobody better than the fish who has a winning record against the Yankees. This weekend we'll see Yuri Perez facing off against Will Warren on Friday. So today 135 start for that one. So this afternoon the fish and the Yankees get things started. On Saturday we'll see Max Meyer versus our old friend Ryan Weathers. And then on Sunday Chris Paddock will look for a bounce back as he faces off against their Ace Max free. So a couple of things I'm looking at this series, this weekend, Marcy Jacob Marcy. He struggled out the gates, 136 batting average.

24:51But I don't think that 136 batting average just tells the whole story. He's had some hard hit balls that have just been fielded well, hidden in some poor spots, some unlucky spots for Marcy. So I fully expect Marcy to bounce back and get on track this weekend. I'm also really intrigued by the Chris Paddock versus Max free matchup. How will Chris Paddock respond after giving up eight earn runs in the first four innings in his opening start against the white socks. That's the only loss on the season for the fish so far. And a veteran like Paddock, this is a big spot for him to bounce back because we kind of touched on it in our opening episode. But this Marlon's pitching staff as far as major leagues, triple A goes, there's a lot of names that are shopping at the bit to get in this major league rotation. So Chris Paddock, his job, I'm not saying it's on the line to really early in the season, but a good start against a good

25:52Yankees line up this weekend would do a lot for his status in the starting line up in the starting rotation. You got guys like Braxton Garrett, Ryan Gusto down in triple A on the farm in Jacksonville. And they are working hard to get back to the majors, especially Braxton Garrett. He lost the job to Janssen, Junk and Spring. And Braxton Garrett, I'm sure wants to be back with the fish. He's dealt with some injuries over his time. I think he's a guy that's had Tommy John's surgery. So I'd really like to see Braxton back up at some point. But that being said, I'd really like to see Chris Paddock bounce back this weekend. I'm a fan of all of our Marlins. So good Marlins pitching is a good thing. Finally, the Canadian triple threat, that's what I like to call and that's what I'm going to keep calling them at least for the time being, because it has been a triple threat. You could argue these three have been the best hitters on the Marlins team. You could argue two of the three have been the best hitters in baseball through six games. So of course, we begin with the man of the hour, Liam Hicks.

26:55He has burst onto the season so far this season. 467 batting average and he's been doing it in clutch spots. 12 RBI that leads major league baseball. He's got three home runs that leads the Marlins. So look for Liam Hicks to stay hot this weekend. That brings us to our next Canadian. Owen Casey, the rookie has been on a tear to start the year as well, kind of reminiscent of what Jacob Marcy did when he first came up to the majors last season. Casey, 350 batting average, eight RBI as well as a home run. That was a walk off home run in the Rocky series and that exhilarating for three win over the rocks. And finally, Otto Lopez. He's been solid as well this season, 318 batting average. He's got two RBI. He even hit a home run in that 10, nothing win over the white socks. That's Sandy Jim. And he had a stolen base in the first six games as well. Showing off the speed is Otto.

27:56Xavier Edwards has still scored in every single game so far this season. So look for that trend to continue. Couple Yankees notables before we get to the Goldies guarantee and we get you out of here. Our old friends on Carlos stand. I got a soft spot for Big J. He's one of my favorite players ever from his time with the Marlins and he's been off to a hot start to the year. So I'm happy for Big J over there. 500 batting average so far this season. He's 10 for 20 on the season. He only has one home run but he's been hitting the ball well and he leads the Yankees in total bases with 15. As far as to his outfield counterpart, the other slugger on there, I'm not sure who will be deaching. But Aaron Judge, not as hot as Big J. That's for sure. He struggled out the gates as well, a 125 batting average. He does have two home runs, but 11 strikeouts, which leads the Yankees. Our old friend, Jazz Chisholm, I touched on him earlier. He hasn't been great out the gates, 174 batting average and we'll see Ryan Weathers in this series as well.

28:59In his first start, he went four and a third, four hits, one earned run. He also had seven strikeouts in that start. But that was the Yankees only loss of the season as they lost two to one in that game, the five and one New York Yankees, which brings me to the moment we've all been waiting for Goldies Garantee. Our first Goldies Garantee, it saddens me to say this, but it's all in one. We're all in one on the season. We're off to a rough start, but we can only go up from here. We're at 0%, we can only go up from here. My first Goldies Garantee was that Augustine Ramirez would get his first home run of the season in the series against the White Sox. I also, a season long Goldies Garantee will be, Ramirez will get 30 home runs over the course of the year. So that one's still pending, that one will be pending all year, but I'm all in one to start. But for this week's Goldies Garantee, I'm doubling down on Augustine Ramirez.

29:59Excuse me, Augustine Ramirez, I'm doubling down Goldies Garantee is that Augustine Ramirez will get his first home run of the season this weekend against the Yankees. You can count it, you can take it to the bank, you can double down on it, just like I did, just like I am, Augustine is due. He's been hitting 188 on the season, he's been cold, but as I mentioned earlier in the episode, he got traded from the Yankees. He was part of that jazz chism deal. So maybe a little bit of revenge this weekend for against a team that Augustine was a part of, they dealt him away to the Marlins. He had a solid season with the Marlins last year, and he's gonna break through this weekend with at least one home run, 30 home runs, that one's still pending over the course of the year, but he's gonna get the ball rolling this weekend, and that is a Goldies Garantee. And that is gonna do it for our episode today.

31:03Thanks for tuning in to Lockdown Marlins. We'll be back with you on Monday to give you all the news and analysis from this weekend series between the Marlins and the Yankees. So make sure you subscribe and follow Lockdown Marlins so you get all the latest episodes. You can find me on Twitter, Jamie Golden in 66. I made it my New Year's resolution to start tweeting more. I started that resolution in late March, so a great time to start your New Year's resolution. You can catch me there, most of it is Marlins content with a little bit of oddball stuff as well. I'm an interesting dude, you'll come to find that as we go through this journey together of another Marlins season. So if you never miss an episode, the every day or club is built for you. Get Lockdown Marlins ad-free plus members only discord access and more at thelockdownmarlins.supercast.com to join the club. And for those of you on video, we send you to the first ever 24-7 Lockdown Podcast Network

32:06YouTube channel, so head over there and for our audio audience, your second list and go check out Lockdown MLB. That's gonna do it for me. Have a good day everybody and go fish.