Miami Marlins

The Florida Marlins entered the National League in 1993, one of two expansion teams (along with the Rockies) added that year. Owner Wayne Huizenga, the Blockbuster Video magnate, invested heavily in the roster, signing expensive free agents to accelerate the franchise's competitiveness.

The strategy paid off spectacularly in 1997. The Marlins, featuring a roster of high-priced veterans (Bobby Bonilla, Moises Alou, Kevin Brown) mixed with young talent (Edgar Renteria, Livan Hernandez), won the wild card and fought their way to the World Series against the Cleveland Indians. The Series went seven games, and in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7, Edgar Renteria singled home the winning run to give the Marlins their first championship - the fastest an expansion team had ever won the World Series.

The celebration was short-lived. Citing financial losses, Huizenga immediately dismantled the roster in one of the most notorious fire sales in baseball history. Within months, nearly every significant player was traded, and the 1998 Marlins lost 108 games. The cycle of build-and-destroy would become a recurring theme.

The Marlins rebuilt again, and again the payoff came faster than anyone expected. The 2003 team, managed by 72-year-old Jack McKeon, was a wild card entrant that defeated the Giants, Cubs, and Yankees in succession to win the franchise's second World Series. Josh Beckett's dominant Game 6 shutout of the Yankees in Yankee Stadium was one of the great pitching performances in postseason history.

The 2003 NLCS against the Cubs featured the Steve Bartman incident, in which a Cubs fan's interference with a foul ball in Game 6 at Wrigley Field contributed to a Cubs collapse that the Marlins exploited. Florida won Games 6 and 7 to advance to the World Series.

Once again, the championship was followed by a roster teardown. Beckett, Miguel Cabrera, and other key players were traded within a few years, continuing the franchise's frustrating pattern. Two World Series titles in seven years was remarkable; the inability to maintain a competitive roster for more than a few seasons was equally so.

The franchise rebranded as the Miami Marlins in 2012, coinciding with the opening of Marlins Park (later LoanDepot Park), a retractable-roof stadium in the Little Havana neighborhood. The new facility was supposed to mark a turning point, but the same patterns persisted - a brief spending spree followed by another teardown.

The most heartbreaking moment in franchise history came in September 2016, when star pitcher Jose Fernandez was killed in a boating accident at age 24. Fernandez had been the most exciting young arm in baseball and the emotional leader of the team. His death devastated the organization and the Miami community, and the Marlins wore his number 16 in tribute throughout the following season.

Derek Jeter's ownership group purchased the team in 2017 and immediately undertook yet another fire sale, trading Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, and Christian Yelich. The moves were financially motivated and deeply unpopular, reinforcing the franchise's reputation as a team that refused to invest in sustained competitiveness.