Following a short flight South, I arrived in sunny Miami and beelined it straight to the hotel SLS in South Beach. Here I would meet up with Jill and get ready for game 29/30 at Marlins Park located downtown.
Much like the stadium in Tampa, the Marlins decided to build their new ballpark (opened in 2012) with an enclosed roof to ensure games could go on in the sometimes-unpredictable Miami weather.
While the Marlins are not known for having the highest attendance (a combination of a team performing poorly and there being so much to do in Miami), that night they were hosting the always high-drawing New York Yankees. As Miami is full of New Yorkers who make the pilgrimage South for retirement, Marlins Park was about 80% full and of this I’d say it was about 75% Yankee fans – this certainly made for an exciting atmosphere.
I guess you can see some similarities?
Upon arrival the first thing you notice (apart from the giant structure), is all of the cool Miami related things such as palm trees, bright colours and lights all over the place.
The other cool item within the stadium is the Marlins “Home Run Sculpture” – much like the New York Mets Apple – that is located in left-center field and stands about 20m tall. As you’ll see, the main feature of the sculpture is the two Marlins that jump in opposite directions surrounded by a whole bunch of colourful swirls and other wild shapes (very Miami). The base of the sculpture contains palms trees, flamingos and further colours – all very cool!
The game itself was not only a beauty because of the huge crowd, but also featured power hitting, base running and non-stop excitement.
Things got off to a slow start with 4-scoreless innings highlighted by ex-Marlin’s star (now at the Yankees) Giancarlo Stanton’s first at-bat in inning one. While there were a ton of boos, the Yankees faithful who were there drowned these out pretty well – even though Stanton would have nothing to show for it.
Finally, the Yankees would make the breakthrough they were looking for with a run in the fourth inning and another in the sixth to make it a 2-0 game.
However, the Marlins would load up the bases in the sixth, and belt a massive home run into the left field (so we got to see the sculpture in action), as well as adding another run to turn the game on its head and make it 5-2 heading into the last three innings.
With both sides each adding a run in the seventh for a 6-3 game, the Marlins would not lay down and smack in another 3 in the eighth for a 9-3 lead that they would hold on to for the remainder of the game in a huge upset that sent the Yankees fans home disappointed but equalled party time for the Marlins faithful!
The following day, Jill, Ali, Nick and myself took the time to enjoy the sunny Miami weather by hanging at the beach, enjoying some parasailing, going out for some unbelievable food as just “living our best lives” (that’s what the basics say now right)?
I don’t need to go into too much detail about how fun it all was (it’s impossible to do anyway), so I hope the pictures do it some justice!
It was an awesome time in Miami once again surrounded by the best people (who have all featured heavily in this trip), food and accommodation.
Things are almost wrapped up with only game 30/30 left as I fly back to LA and hit up the Angeles down in Anaheim!
It’s a bittersweet feeling to have it all wrap up but I’m pumped to be seeing all of the people back in LA. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading it all as much as I have writing it!
Thirty before 30 