Last night, the Marlins showed the baseball world that they can compete. After sporting one of the worst offenses through 9 games, the “Bottom Feeders” broke out at just the right time to take game 2 versus Atlanta 14-8. For the first time this season, the bats carried the starting pitching in a nice turn of events for the floundering Fish bats. Former Brave Adam Duvall led the way, going 4-5 with 2 home runs and 7 RBIs.

Although this is one game (and I’ll be the first to say one game means nothing), if certain aspects are continued, this Marlins team will be able to compete this season. Here are my 5 takeaways from the Marlins explosive win in Atlanta:

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Marlins CAN Compete in the NL East

The NL East is one-of, if not the best division in all of baseball. For a young Marlins team, competing versus the juggernauts in New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and even Washington seems daunting and near impossible. Regardless of how you order the rest of the division, the Braves are the top of the food chain. The Fish have now matched up with Atlanta twice in this young season and won. That’s not to say that the Braves won’t win every other game in the season series; however, if the Marlins can continue to play as they have the last two nights, they will be able to compete with the best.

The Marlins took the season series versus the Nationals and Phillies last season, while dropping the season series to both the Mets and Braves. If this team can figure out one of those matchups, they will be in good shape to maintain a steady place in the division once the Braves figure things out.

Marlins bats aren’t bad, they were just cold

There was a huge misconception spreading that the Marlins bats were not capable of much. That is simply an overgeneralization of 8-9 games of baseball in my opinion. This team boasts 6 hitters that are statistically above the league average in many categories consistently throughout their careers.

Games like these show that the bats just needed to find consistency after a long offseason and inconsistent lineups. The bats are starting to see the ball better, which is the best news a Miami Marlins fan can receive. Don’t expect consistent 14-run games out of this offense, but when they are on, expect them to give solid run support to the starters.

Starting Pitching can have off nights

It is ironic that 3 of the 4 Marlins wins to-date have come on days where the starters are not on their A-game. Elieser Hernandez was hurt in win 1. Sandy Alcantara had his B+ stuff at best last night. Pablo Lopez was shelled last night.

Last night is evidence that the Marlins don’t have to have their starters pitch like they did to start the season (led the MLB in total starters ERA) to win games. Rather, the starters just have to match an awakening offense.

It should be extremely exciting when the Marlins can combine the awakened bats with the stellar starting pitching.

Adam Duvall could be “the guy”

The Marlins have needed “the guy” on offense for years. We all thought it was going to be Starling Marte, Brian Anderson, or even Garrett Cooper. But it may just be Adam Duvall. He has been this guy throughout his entire career, and my guess is, it won’t be changing anytime soon.

Duvall has powerful bursts of offense that can pilot a Marlins team through close games the rest of the season. Nights like last night will be few and far in between, but if he can consistently produce as he has been lately, the Marlins will finally have “the guy” they need carrying the weight of the offense.

Duvall is no Mike Trout or Freddie Freeman, but he is the best power option the Marlins have had since Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich. Progress? You decide.

Marlins are making adjustments

The Fish are starting to make adjustments at the plate. This was evident last night , not against Max Fried, but rather against the Braves bullpen. Last season, this bullpen was kryptonite to Marlins bats in both the regular season and postseason.

Clearly, these arms like Tomlin and Dayton have struggled out of the gate, but it is important for the Marlins to be able to capitalize on those situations and get better with time. The Fish have gotten periodically better over time at damaging bullpens late in the game. The last two nights in Atlanta, they have put up 10 runs alone.

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Overall

The first two games in Atlanta have been a positive twist to an unfortunate start for Miami. They sit at 4-6 now with 2 more games to go in this series. Tonight, Nick Neidert takes the mound looking to win the series versus veteran Charlie Morton.