With a 9-4 victory Wednesday over the Nationals, the Marlins (82-76) clinched the franchise's fifth winning season. Last year, Florida finished 71-91.
"I just wish we could have made the playoffs," said right-hander Josh Johnson, who improved to 7-1 a day after the Marlins were eliminated from the playoffs. "We just barely missed it, but it's a good building block for next year." The Marlins need to win two of their final four games to finish with the third-best record in franchise history. The Marlins finished 83-79 both in 2004 and '05.
The 1997 Marlins had the best record, 92-70. The 2003 Marlins finished 91-71. Both teams won the World Series after clinching the wild card.
Now that they're eliminated from the playoffs, the Marlins say their goal is to perform a repeat of what they did in 2007 -- eliminate the Mets from the playoffs.
"What are you going to do? It's Sept. 23 and we just got eliminated, so I'm pretty proud of the club and the way they battled," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Now we get the chance to hopefully go in there like we did last year against the Mets and still play for something."
The playoff atmosphere at Shea will go a long toward helping Florida's young players in 2009, said baseball operations president Larry Beinfest.
"I think anytime you're playing big games, even if we're not in it, those are big games for these guys," Beinfest said. "Some of the experience these kids have had will be important down the road."
MARLINS 9, NATIONALS 4: Hanley Ramirez hit the first pitch of the game for a home run, and the Marlins never looked back. Florida banged out 18 hits, and RHP Josh Johnson won his final start of the year to improve to 7-1.
