Marlins' merch celebrates positive new mantra

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MIAMI – “It’s a good day to have a good day.”

Though a common mantra, it’s one that represents the 2025 Marlins.

Miami has defied external expectations by going 11-13 into Thursday’s off-day. But in the midst of a season-high five-game skid last week, a shipment of T-shirts bearing that slogan fittingly arrived at loanDepot park.

“Yesterday is what it was, and now today is a good day to have a good day,” manager Clayton McCullough said at the time.

So who was behind the new merchandise?

That would be bench coach Carson Vitale, who placed an order of 20-something T-shirts with Rake Baseball Company for the entire staff. He had been wearing the same shirt – just in Mariners colors – for the last five years in the Pacific Northwest.

“They're very much like the JUCO grinder, good vibes, the epitome of what I view baseball: Play hard, run hard, love each other, support each other,” Vitale said. “That brand very much embodies that.”

Entering the season with one of the Majors’ youngest coaching staffs and rosters, the Marlins knew the odds would be stacked against them. That doesn’t matter to the organization, which views 2025 as a chance for everyone -- coaches and players alike -- to grow with experience and surprise the baseball world.

A self-described hippie, Vitale believes an uplifting mindset like the one depicted on the T-shirt can lead to positive results. But how can that type of vibe work in the high-stakes world of professional sports?

“I think it fits well, right?” Vitale said. “There's so much negativity around this game, there's so much failure, that finding ways to love each other and celebrate positive things I think is just crucial to development and winning and all the things we're trying to do here, in the immediate, and then also over a long period of time.

“I always choose to look at the positive. There's always room for truth. There's always time for that. But when it's crafted with love, I think it lands a whole lot better.”