The Florida Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Established in 1993 as an expansion franchise, the Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League.

The Marlins play their home games at Dolphin Stadium, also home to the Miami Dolphins.

In recent years, the Marlins ownership has pushed for a new stadium and recently agreed to a plan with Miami-Dade commissioners and the city of Miami to build a $515 million ballpark on the site of the legendary Miami Orange Bowl.

Huizenga stated his intention to aggressively pursue an expansion franchise.

Huizenga immediately announced plans to convert Joe Robbie Stadium (later Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium and now Dolphin Stadium) from a football-only stadium into a multipurpose stadium.

The renovation cost only $100 million, largely because Dolphins founder Joe Robbie had anticipated that baseball would eventually come to South Florida and built the stadium with a wider field than is normally the case for the NFL.

Purists feared the result would be similar to Exhibition Stadium in Toronto; when the Toronto Blue Jays played there from 1976 to 1989 they were burdened with seats more than 800 feet from the plate.

At one point in the season, the Marlins jumped to (30-20), moved 10 games over .500 for the first time since September 14, 2005.

The good start was attributed to powerful offensive production from their core of Mike Jacobs, Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Josh Willingham, and Jorge Cantu and quality pitching by southpaws Andrew Miller and Scott Olsen along with right-hander Ricky Nolasco.

The Florida Marlins are also among the major league leaders in home runs and extra base hits thanks to productive starts from their offensive.

THF Night at PETCO Park - 8/19/11