The Marlins scored the fewest runs in the majors last season.
There is little to suggest matters will improve any in 2019. There is every reason to believe that, once again, runs will be in such short supply that a two-run inning might seem like a scoring outburst.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly knows it. The sabermetric community knows it. Anyone who can read the numbers on the back of a baseball card knows it.
It is why it doesn’t take any arm-pulling for Mattingly to acknowledge that pitching “is going to be our strength” even though the Marlins don’t exactly have a Max Scherzer or Jacob deGrom heading their rotation or a shut-down closer such as Kenley Jansen or Craig Kimbrel lurking in the bullpen to close out the ninth.