Marlins star offers lame excuse after team gets swept

Miami Marlins center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

Marlins star offers lame excuse after being swept in season-opening series

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 3/31/24

The Miami Marlins are coming off a promising 2023 season that saw them win 84 games and earn a wild-card spot in the National League. Their 2024 season did not get off to as promising of a start as they were swept in a four-game series at home to the Pittsburgh Pirates, a series that saw them lose two games where they jumped out to big leads. That includes a 9-7 loss on Sunday where they let a 5-0 lead slip away.

Marlins star Jazz Chisholm Jr. seemed to offer a bizarre and lame excuse after the game for why they struggled.

Simply put, they did not like the roof being open at Loan Depot Park in three of the four games.

"We're not used to playing in shadows; we normally play inside every day. When we get a shadow for 3/4 games at home for the first time this season, it's kind of hard to adjust to. We're used to the roof being closed and being able to see every at-bat..."

Jazz Chisholm Jr. pic.twitter.com/TfbeQBXf9O
— Bally Sports Florida: Marlins (@BallyMarlins) March 31, 2024

There are a lot of things about this that are lame on Chisholm's part.

For one, the Marlins still play 81 games per year away from Miami where they are not playing in perfect conditions. They also just spent more than a month playing exclusively outdoors in for their spring training games in Jupiter, Fla.

The other factor -- the Pirates were playing in the same shadows and conditions and still had no issue seeing the ball and scoring 31 runs in the four games, scoring at least six runs in every game.

Chisholm is a good player -- he hit a grand slam on Sunday and was on base three times -- and the Marlins have reason for optimism this season. But it is way too early in the season to be making excuses like that after simply getting outplayed in four consecutive games.

More must-reads: