The second longest postseason drought in baseball is now one year longer. 

The Miami Marlins failed to qualify for the playoffs for the 14th consecutive season this year. The Fish have not played October baseball since winning the 2003 World Series. Only the Mariners, who haven't been the postseason since 2001, have a longer postseason drought.

Even without a trip to the postseason, the 2017 season was an exciting one for the Marlins, as Giancarlo Stanton went on a monster home run tear in the second half -- at one point he hit 18 home runs in 25 games -- that has him sitting on 57 homers with five games to play. Stanton has a very real chance to join Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Roger Maris as the only players in history to hit 60 homers in a season.

In addition to Stanton, both Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich had strong seasons in 2017, as did Justin Bour and J.T. Realmuto. Dan Straily and Jose Urena are the bright spots in an otherwise sketchy rotation. Also, Edinson Volquez threw baseball's only no-hitter so far this season back in June.

Unfortunately, Volquez blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery a few weeks later, which will likely sideline him for much of next season, the second year of his two-year control. Wei-Yin Chen, the team's other big-money starter, was limited to 33 innings by his own elbow problems. He was recently shut down with renewed soreness and will not opt out of his contract.

Aside from Stanton's pursuit of 60 home runs, the biggest story around the Marlins this season was owner Jeffrey Loria's efforts to sell the team. He reportedly had a handshake agreement in place to sell the team back in February, though that fell apart due to political reasons. Another attempt to sell the team to an ownership group led by Derek Jeter and Jeb Bush fell apart due to a reported power struggle between Jeter and Bush.

It wasn't until last month that Loria came to an agreement to sell the club to a group fronted by Jeter and Bruce Sherman. The price: $1.2 billion. MLB's owners unanimously approved the sale Wednesday, and the transfer of power is expected to take place in the coming days. Sherman will be the team's control person while Jeter will run the baseball operations department. Loria, undoubtedly the worst owner in baseball, is on the way out.

With the new ownership group comes excitement and uncertainty. Loria is gone and that alone is reason to celebrate. Hard to imagine a worse owner. At the same time, what kind of executive will Jeter be? Is he as skilled a front office person as he was a baseball player? This much we know: Jeter is going to make personnel changes. He's reportedly letting several front office people go, including longtime president David Samson. He's wasting no time making his mark on the team.

The single biggest question going forward is payroll. The Marlins have been losing money for years now, mostly due to a poor television contract and their inability to sell the naming rights to Marlins Park. Poor attendance also has something to do with that, of course. It was reported earlier this month that Sherman and Jeter could very well slash payroll next season.

In fact, a potential investor who was specifically briefed by the Bruce Sherman/Jeter group this summer said they spoke of a payroll being pulled back from $115 million to potentially as low as $55 million (if Giancarlo Stanton is traded) or $80 million to $85 million if Stanton is retained at $25 million next season.  

The Marlins already have $95.3 million on the books next season, according to Cot's Baseball Contracts. Stanton is the biggest earner at $25 million. Martin Prado ($13.5 million) and Volquez ($13 million) are due a nice chunk of change as well. Trimming payroll down to $80 million will take some work.

Of course, even if the Marlins weren't reportedly planning to cut payroll, Stanton's future would be a hot topic. The Marlins have a very thin farm system -- Baseball America ranked it the worst farm system in the game in August -- and trading Stanton coming off a 60-ish home run season sure would infuse the organization with a lot of young talent. The talent rich Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies all figure to show interest, among other clubs.

At the same time, it's difficult to imagine a worse way for the new ownership group to make a first impression than trading Stanton, the club's best and most popular player, especially when he's coming off a historic season. Even if trading Stanton would be the right move long-term, it would be awfully tough to swallow, and fans would hate it. They'd hate it and they'd let the Marlins know it. Attendance would drop even lower should the Marlins subtract Stanton.

Sherman and Jeter are stepping into an unpleasant situations, and they knew that going into the sale. The team's finances are a mess and there's a lot of work to be done. Do Sherman and Jeter want to slash payroll? Of course not. Do they want to trade Stanton? No way. Sometimes what's best and what's popular do not match up though, and to get this franchise headed in the right direction, the Marlins might have to take a step back. Again. 

If nothing else, Loria's divorce from the franchise gives Marlins fans a reason to be optimistic going forward. They haven't had many lately.