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The past week or so has not been kind at all to the Miami Marlins. They haven't been winning much, losing eight of their past 10 games — including an 8-3 defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday. And the Marlins' poor form appears to be frustrating the team to the brim, if manager Clayton McCullough's reaction to their latest defeat is any indication.
Speaking to reporters following the loss, the Marlins manager put his entire team on blast and admitted that they “deserved to lose” with the kind of baseball they've been playing.
“This was not a great, pretty brand of baseball right now. Ugly. We gave up far too many bases. We just didn't handle our chances. We just did not take care of the routine at times tonight. We just gave up too many extra bases to St. Louis. We deserved to lose this game,” McCullough said, via Kevin Barral of Fish on First.
It's frustrating for the Marlins when they kept the game close throughout and even had a chance to take the lead in the sixth inning when they opened the frame with two straight doubles to tie the game. But they couldn't capitalize, leaving two runners stranded when the go-ahead run at third wasn't able to score on a single to right field.
“No excuses. We did not play to the standard we have set for ourselves tonight. That's disappointing, to not play well. We have to get over this very quickly and turn around and come out ready to play tomorrow. If we don't play well tomorrow, we might be sitting in the same spot we are tonight,” McCullough added.
Here's what Clayton McCullough had to say following today's game.
He called it "ugly" and said "we deserved to lose."#Marlins @FishOnFirst pic.twitter.com/PVQSZ0TJrI
— Kevin Barral (@kevin_barral) August 19, 2025
Those remarks should light a fire underneath the Marlins locker room, especially considering how calm McCullough remained even as he expressed his frustrations regarding his team's performance.
Marlins look to end the season on a respectable note
At this juncture of the season, the Marlins have nothing much more to play for than pride. They are poised to miss the playoffs yet again, especially amid their recent slump that has them far off the pace in the playoff race.
The Marlins will have two more games against the Cardinals before embarking on another difficult three-game series at home against the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays. Perhaps McCullough's comments to the media will help jolt their players wide awake with the hopes of ending their slump.
