It’s easy to take for granted the success of the Morehead City Marlins during the last five years.
I went back and looked at a few old columns this week, and I saw a line in a June 2017 story about how exciting it was that the Fish could potentially make the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time in franchise history.
Fast forward five years, and that reads like it came from a different planet. The astronomical success of the team is evident – two Coastal Plain League titles, three straight Petitt Cup Championship appearances and a combined record of 113-48 between 2018 and Thursday night, to be exact.
Here’s a fun fact. The Marlins didn’t get that back-to-back playoff berth that season in 2017. They finished that season 25-30 under then-first year coach Jesse Lancaster. It was a disappointing answer to the team’s 30-25 record under Jason Wood in 2016, the first winning record season since the franchise’s inaugural summer in 2010.
It was a pivot point in the franchise but one that wound up working out pretty well. The Marlins went on to put up three straight winning seasons under Lancaster, and now they appear poised for a fourth under returning coach Sam Carel.
As of Thursday, the Fish were in second place of the CPL East division, down half a game to the Wilson Tobs with the end of the first half of the season nearly over. They have won eight of their last nine games and will look to make the playoffs for the fourth straight season.
It’s laughable when I go back and read about the excitement of making the playoffs in consecutive seasons, but that’s how quickly the reputation of a team can change. The higher it climbs, so do the expectations around the team.
One look around the league will let you know how lucky we are as fans. The Martinsville Mustangs have gone 88-132 since 2017, and the Florence Flamingos have gone 85-127 in the same stretch. Take a look at the Holly Springs Salamanders, who are in their fourth season as a team, have advanced to the playoffs twice but only have a vanilla 76-90 combined record since 2018.
It’s easier to get excited over a period of growth, like in 2016-2018. The Marlins finished in the bottom half of their division for five of their first eight seasons and didn’t break the top two from 2011 until 2018. Watching them take off toward consecutive championship appearances was thrilling.
Sustained success isn’t as exciting, but it should be appreciated and cherished while it lasts. There are 14 teams in the CPL, and only a small handful of them are delivering consistent wins night in and night out.
I feel lucky the Marlins are one of them.
(Send comments or questions to zack@thenewstimes.com or follow him on Twitter @zacknally)
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As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to edit or remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, anti-Semitism, or personal/abusive/condescending attacks on other users or goading them. The same applies to trolling, the use of multiple aliases, or just generally being a jerk. Enforcement of this policy is at the sole discretion of the site administrators and repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without warning.