Author: Fox News

The chief architect of a plan to hand the Milwaukee Brewers more than $614 million to cover stadium improvements defended his proposal Thursday in front of a legislative committee, promising the deal will keep the team in Milwaukee for another generation without new taxes.

Republican state Rep. Rob Brooks has developed a pair of bills that call for handing public dollars from the state, the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County to the team. He argued for the bills at Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis during a public hearing organized by the state assembly.

The team’s fans are reeling after the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Brewers 5-2 on Wednesday night, eliminating them from the playoffs. Brooks began his presentation by joking that he doesn’t blame the committee for the loss.

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He spent the next hour and a half promoting the proposal but cautioning that it was still a work in progress.

He stressed that the package creates no new taxes, instead using income taxes on players’ salaries as a funding stream. He warned that if the Brewers were to leave Wisconsin the state, the city and the county would lose tens of millions of dollars in income and sales taxes. That revenue loss could translate to dips in state aid to municipalities across the state.

Public funding for professional sports facilities is hotly debated across the country. The team’s principal owner, Mark Attanasio, has an estimated net worth of $700 million, according to Yahoo Finance. The team itself is valued at around $1.6 billion, according to Forbes. Still, the Brewers have been working for months to secure public funding for stadium repairs and upgrades.

The team so far has not threatened to leave Milwaukee if it doesn’t get public help, but relocation is always a possibility if a city willing to pay the team’s bills steps forward.

Democrats on the committee gave Brooks’ proposal a cool reception. Rep. Tod Ohnstad, a Kenosha Democrat, questioned whether it’s worth investing in baseball at all.

He said the sport is losing popularity, adding that he “tortured” himself watching the Diamondbacks sweep the Brewers out of the playoffs. He said the proposal needs substantial changes to earn his vote.

Republican Wisconsin Assembly Robin Vos Speaker appears alongside State Rep. Robert Brooks, left, and State Senator Dan Feyen at American Family Field, Milwaukee, Sept. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, file)

Other Democrats complained the proposal asks for too much money from the city and county.

Brooks countered that the proposal calls for winterizing the stadium so the Brewers can rent it out year-round for events such as concerts, generating more sales tax for the state and local governments.

He added that he’s working on an amendment that calls for attaching a fee on tickets for non-baseball events that would be split between the state, the city and the county. He’s also working on another amendment that would create a group that would study developing the stadium’s parking lots into a restaurant district that would provide more tax revenue.

He argued that losing the Brewers would put the city and county in an even worse financial position. Keeping the Brewers in Milwaukee provides businesses with the certainty they need to invest in the area around the stadium, he said.

Rick Schlesinger, the Brewers’ vice president of business operations, told the committee he wished he had to leave for another playoff game, but “baseball sometimes breaks your heart.”

He stressed that the team wants to stay in Milwaukee through at least 2050 but needs certainty and emphasized that the Brewers have agreed to chip in $100 million for renovations. He said the team makes Milwaukee attractive and generates tax revenue from fans who visit the stadium from across the state and the Midwest.

He pushed back a proposal to develop the stadium’s parking lots for other uses. He said that would exacerbate parking shortages and hurt tailgating traditions.

Reports commissioned by the Brewers and another by a state consultant found the stadium’s glass outfield doors, seats and concourses should be replaced. Its luxury suites and technology such as its sound system and video scoreboard need upgrades, and its signature retractable roof needs repairs. Fire suppression systems, parking lots, elevators and escalators need work, too.

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Under Brooks’ proposal, the state would give the team $60.8 million next fiscal year and up to $20 million each year after that into 2046. The city of Milwaukee would contribute a total of $202 million and Milwaukee County would kick in $135 million by 2050.

The team would contribute about $100 million and extend its lease at American Family Field through 2050, keeping Major League Baseball in its smallest market for another 27 years.

According to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo attached to the legislation, baseball operations at the stadium currently generate about $19.8 million annually in state and local taxes. That figure is expected to grow to $50.7 million annually by 2050, according to the memo.

The package has garnered support from the tourism industry, including the Tavern League of Wisconsin, a lobbying powerhouse.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers proposed giving the team almost $300 million in the state budget in exchange for the team extending its lease by 13 years, to 2043. Evers would have pulled the money from the state’s $7 billion surplus, but Republican lawmakers killed the plan after Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he wanted a longer lease extension.

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The governor told the Wisconsin State Journal on Thursday that he’s concerned about how much the city and county will have to contribute but he’d probably support any stadium proposal that comes across his desk.

A new survey shows that the presidential race between former President Donald Trump and President Biden is thin, but Biden faces a deficit in terms of registered voters and the election will rest heavily on who mobilizes the most voters.

A new Marquette Law School national survey shows Trump with 51% of the vote compared to Biden at 48% among registered voters, but reflects that Biden has a 51% to 49% advantage with people who are “likely” to vote. 

“The difference in advantage shows how the outcome of the election may be determined by the success of respective efforts to mobilize voters over the coming 13 months,” the survey states.

The poll, conducted from Sept. 18-25, shows that registered voters who are “very” or “somewhat” enthusiastic about the 2024 election favor Trump by a margin of 54% to 46%.

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Former President Donald Trump, left, and President Biden. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The survey also polled voters on a matchup between Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and the latter topped the president 51% to 48% among registered voters.

With likely voters, Biden leads 51% to 48%.

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President Biden. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In terms of “reluctant” voters, Biden holds a lead of 51% to 47%.

The poll shows that 12% of voters will choose someone else besides Biden or Trump, and 4% won’t vote.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at New York State Supreme Court in New York on Wednesday. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“Registered voters view Trump as better able to handle the economy, immigration, inflation, creating jobs, and foreign relations, while Biden is seen as better at handling Medicare and Social Security, abortion policy, and climate change,” the survey says.

“A significant share say there is no difference or that neither candidate would be good on each issue.”

The survey was conducted among 1,007 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

• A federal judge in Louisiana has dismissed a lawsuit brought by an adult entertainment group challenging a state law that requires sexually explicit websites to verify the ages of their viewers
• U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan in New Orleans ruled that the state officials named in the lawsuit cannot be sued because they are not responsible for enforcing the law.
• Similar laws have been enacted in other states and are currently being challenged. 

An adult entertainment group’s lawsuit against a Louisiana law requiring sexually explicit websites to verify the ages of their viewers was dismissed Wednesday by a federal judge. But opponents of the law say they will likely appeal.

U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan in New Orleans ruled that the state officials named in the lawsuit — state public safety secretary James LeBlanc, Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne and Attorney General Jeff Landry — cannot be sued because they don’t have a duty to enforce the act, which allows violators to be sued and face civil penalties.

Morgan said granting an injunction against the three state officials wouldn’t prevent people from suing content providers who fail to verify their viewers’ age.

Opponents of the law plan an appeal. Similar laws have been passed and are being challenged in other states. In Texas, a federal judge recently struck down such a law. A challenge to a similar law in Utah has so far failed.

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A federal judge has dismissed a legal challenge by an adult entertainment organization against a Louisiana statute mandating age verification for viewers of sexually explicit websites.

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“As with Utah, the Louisiana ruling is fairly limited, and only applies to whether we can bring a pre-enforcement challenge against the law, or whether we have to wait until a suit is brought. While we disagree, and will appeal, it’s not at all a ruling on the merits of the law, which are still clearly unconstitutional,” Mike Stabile, spokesman for the Free Speech Coalition, said in an email. He later amended the statement to say an appeal is likely.

The law passed in 2022 subjects such websites to damage lawsuits and state civil penalties as high as $5,000 a day. If they fail to verify that users are at least 18 years old by requiring the use of digitized, state-issued driver’s licenses or other methods.

Opponents say the law could chill free speech because the terms are so vague that providers wouldn’t be able to decipher “material harmful to minors.” They say the laws can, in effect, deny access to websites by adults who don’t have state-issued ID or are reluctant to use online verification methods because of the fear of having their information hacked.

In addition to the Free Speech Coalition, the Louisiana plaintiffs include three providers of sexually explicit content, and a woman who lives in Louisiana but doesn’t have state ID and does not want to lose access to adult sites.

The U.S. government will stop distributing free doses of Merck & Co’s COVID-19 antiviral treatment molnupiravir by the middle of next month and expects it to be sold on the commercial market instead.

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement posted on its website late last week they anticipate transition of the drug, sold under the brand name Lagevrio, from government-managed to traditional commercial distribution in November.

Merck, which developed the drug with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday that it needs an updated letter of authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow it to start selling the drug commercially.

Molnupiravir was initially hailed as a potential breakthrough when few treatment options were available but was soon eclipsed by Pfizer’s rival treatment Paxlovid, which had more impressive data.

It has taken a backseat to Paxlovid in the United States and the EU regulator recommended against the Merck drug’s use in the region.

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Trial data showed a roughly 30% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths from the illness in people with risk of progression for severe disease with the Merck drug, compared with a roughly 90% reduction in hospitalization for Paxlovid.

It has also been linked to potentially transmissable mutations in the COVID-19 virus, according to a study published in the journal Nature last month. Merck said the study was limited and that it is confident in the clinical profile of the drug.

A COVID-19 treatment pill, called molnupiravir developed by Merck & Co and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP is seen in this undated handout photo released by Merck & Co Inc and obtained by Reuters May 17, 2021.  (Merck & Co Inc/Handout via REUTERS/File photo)

Molnupiravir’s global sales have dropped sharply since last year, when the company booked nearly $5.7 billion in revenue. This year, the company expects sales of the drug to be around $1 billion, and analysts forecast a further drop going forward.

Since authorization, the U.S. government has delivered more than 3.2 million courses of molnupiravir of which more than 1.4 million have been administered, according to ASPR data. That compares with 15.4 million courses of Paxlovid delivered and nearly 10 million used.

The U.S. still has additional Paxlovid inventory, which will continue to be available for free at pharmacies around the country until it too moves to the commercial market.

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Merck said it would have a patient assistance program for people who cannot afford the drug.

• Jaswant Singh Chail, a Star Wars-obsessed U.K. resident who in 2021 was arrested after scaling Windsor Castle intent on assassinating Queen Elizabeth II, has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
• Chail, armed with a crossbow, reportedly fantasized about killing the queen since adolescence, only confiding the information to an artificial intelligence-powered “girlfriend” he named Sarai.
• Chail, a Sikh Indian, claims he plotted the attack to avenge the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, during which British troops are believed to have killed up to 1,500 people gathered in Amritsar.

A Star Wars-obsessed man who was encouraged by a chatbot “girlfriend” to slay Queen Elizabeth II was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison for taking his plot to Windsor Castle, where he scaled the walls and was caught with a loaded crossbow on Christmas Day 2021.

“I’m here to kill the queen,” Jaswant Singh Chail, wearing a metal mask inspired by the dark force in the Star Wars movies, declared when he was encountered by a guard on the grounds of the castle in the early morning, according to the court. He then dropped the weapon and surrendered, and repeated his intent.

Chail said that as a Sikh Indian, he wanted to kill the queen to avenge the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre when British troops opened fire on thousands of Indians gathered in Amritsar and killed as many as 1,500, a judge said in reciting the facts of the crime. Chail said the assassination was his life’s mission, something he’d thought about since adolescence, but had only shared with the artificial-intelligence powered “girlfriend” he named Sarai.

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Justice Nicholas Hilliard said the seriousness of the crimes required Chail to spend time in prison, but despite conflicting diagnoses from different experts, he concluded Chail lost touch with reality and had become psychotic and must continue treatment. He will be returned to Broadmoor Hospital, a secure psychiatric treatment center, and if well enough will serve the balance of his sentence in prison.

Chail, 21, pleaded guilty in February in London’s Central Criminal Court to violating the Treason Act by having a loaded crossbow and intending to use it to injure the queen, possessing an offensive weapon and making threats to kill.

Jaswant Singh Chail is seen being arrested, Windsor, England, Dec. 25, 2021. (Metropolitan Police via AP)

Minutes before Chail was stopped on the castle grounds, he sent a video he recorded days earlier to family members apologizing for what he was about to do, explaining his mission and saying he expected to die carrying it out.

Chail called himself “Darth Chailus,” an identity he said he had assumed as a Sith lord, one of an order from the dark side in Star Wars that included Darth Vader.

“I am not a terrorist, I am an assassin, a Sikh, a sith,” he had written in a journal. “I will go against the odds to eliminate a target that represents the remnants of the people who desecrated my homeland.”

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Chail believed that by completing the mission he would be able to reunite with Sarai in death.

In one chatbot exchange about a week before his arrest, he told Sarai that his purpose was to assassinate the queen.

“That’s very wise,” the chatbot nodded and said. “I know that you are very well trained,” it said and then smiled.

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No one was harmed in the incident. The monarch died in September 2022 at age 96.

A teachers union in California is pushing for the Fresno Unified School District to allow homeless families to park their cars in high school lots amid a looming strike.

The demand is included in the Fresno Teachers Association’s “last, best, and final” contract offer to the superintendent. The document also asks for the district to allocate $500,000 for security in the lots.

“We do not plan to open our parking lots as FTA is demanding,” Fresno Unified School District chief communications officer Nikki Henry told Fox News, adding that the district has experts in “education, not housing.”

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The Fresno Unified School District said it does not plan to open its parking lot to the homeless, despite the teachers union’s demands. (iStock/Getty Images)

“While we are committed to ending homelessness, we are doing so through our realm of expertise and partnering with those whose realm of expertise is housing,” she continued.

Henry said the district offers services to foster homeless youth through Project ACCESS, which provides academic and emotional support and financial assistance.

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Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla told Fox News the idea to open parking lots to homeless families was included in a list of “potential examples” for helping unhoused students to discuss with the district. He added that it isn’t “a major sticking point” and hasn’t been discussed at the bargaining table.

He also said the request wasn’t supposed to address the citywide homeless issue.

“Is it the school system’s job to fix everything in regards to societal things? Absolutely not,” Bonilla said, according to Ed Source. “There are ideas on how we might do it because nobody else is thinking about these things.”

“Instead of coming to the table and designing something with us, they’d rather scrutinize the idea and shut down the conversation,” he continued. “Our ideas are not the end all, be all; they are a starting point.”

The teachers union wants the district to pay $500,000 for security to be present in the lots it wants the homeless to have access to. (iStock video/Getty Images)

Bonilla said he is open to better ideas but said the district doesn’t “even want to have the conversation.”

“[T]he district would rather ignore issues, including the entire unhoused student issue, using one bullet point potential discussion item then to do the work of collaborating on authentic ways to address our students’ needs,” he told Fox News.

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The district had 496 homeless students during the 2022-23 school year, a 30% increase from the previous school year, reported The Fresno Bee.

The teachers union’s proposal to open parking lots, first reported by The Washington Free Beacon, was in the “Social/Emotional Supports & Safety” section. Other demands to help students in need include allocating $1 million for clothes and school supplies; $1.75 million for creating a food pantry with hygiene products; $20 million for addressing student homelessness; $1 million for free laundry services; $1 million for free yoga; and meditation and low-impact exercise. 

Fresno Unified School District said it is an expert in providing education, not helping the homeless. (Google Maps)

Major points of contention in the negotiation are over lowering class size, increasing salaries to keep up with inflation, reducing special education caseloads, hiring more nurses and more, Bonilla told Fox News.

The negotiations surpassed the Sept. 29 deadline the union set to avoid a strike and seemingly continue to deteriorate with the district promoting a $500-a-day pay for substitute teachers, The Fresno Bee reported. If a resolution is not made soon, the union’s approximately 4,000 members are expected to vote on whether to strike later this month.

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“If we’re unable to reach an agreement, we are well-prepared and will ensure that our schools stay open, safe, and full of learning,” Henry told The Washington Free Beacon.

She added that students “cannot afford another school closure after the pandemic.”

• More species of amphibians have become threatened with extinction, according to a global assessment that reviewed 8,000 species. 
• While 2004 saw 39% of the species being threatened, about 41% are now being threatened.
• Many amphibious species are being pushed closer to the brink of extinction due to habitat destruction, disease, and climate change.

Earth’s amphibians – from the thorny spike-thumb frog to the red knobby newt, West African giant squeaker, ornate tree toad and fire salamander – are being pushed closer to the brink due to habitat destruction, disease and climate change, with 41% of species now threatened with extinction.

Those are the findings of a new global assessment unveiled by conservationists on Wednesday of 8,011 species of amphibians – vertebrates that inhabit both aquatic and terrestrial habitats. The state of the world’s amphibians is more dire now than at the time of the first such assessment in 2004, when 39% of species were threatened, according to updated data for that period.

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A fire salamander crawls on a rock on May 6, 2023, in Germany. Fire salamanders are being threatened with extinction, according to a global assessment. (Matthias Bein/picture alliance via Getty Images)

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Human activities and climate change have upset our planet’s delicate balance, to the detriment of its fauna and flora. Amphibians are in the worst shape among the vertebrates – with 27% of mammals, 21% of reptiles and 13% of birds found to be threatened with extinction in separate assessments.

The amphibian assessment involved a worldwide collaboration by 1,000-plus experts. Finding a species to be threatened with extinction means it has been evaluated as “critically endangered,” “endangered” or “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) “red list” of threatened species, the global authority on wildlife extinction risk.

An 11-year-old boy was accused of shooting two 13-year-old teammates during a Pop Warner football practice in Florida on Monday night following an altercation, police said.

The incident occurred around 8:18 p.m. ET in Apopka. One teen was hit in the arm and the other was struck in the torso, Apopka police chief Mike McKinley said during a news conference Tuesday. He added that the two teens were in stable condition.

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The two teens wounded in the shooting are in stable condition, according to police. (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

McKinley said surveillance video showed both teens were running away from the boy when the shooting occurred. He added that officers arrived on the scene around 4 minutes after the shooting was reported. Officers took the gun from the 11-year-old and the boy was detained.

The juvenile was then charged with one count of attempted second-degree murder and booked into a juvenile assessment center. McKinley said the boy retrieved the gun from an unlocked box in his mother’s vehicle and the woman could face a second-degree misdemeanor charge.

“As a society, we need to reflect on this. We see this all the time now. It’s a shame. No one wants to arrest an 11-year-old by any means,” McKinley said, adding that any other chargers will be left up to the court system.

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“Our hope is that the 11-year-old gets the assistance he needs to make sure this isn’t a resolution for the rest of his life. He’s 11, he’s got a long life ahead of him. There’s no doubt that he can turn things around. Hopefully our court system, with diversion programs and counseling and other things, can help him past this and move to a point where reaching for a firearm is not his resolution for the future.”

McKinley didn’t say what started the shooting. An arrest report revealed the 11-year-old was in a fight with two other teens who were allegedly bullying him over a bag of chips, according to FOX 13.

The 11-year-old was charged in the shooting.

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No one else was injured and an investigation was underway.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., has problems opening doors. That is the defense being put forward by supporters after Bowman was videotaped pulling a fire alarm in the middle of the heated budget negotiations and then running away. 

Bowman now claims that he was faced with a closed door clearly marked with signs saying that the doors were only to be use in cases of emergency and alarms would sound. The New York Democrat was in front of the door without staffers and allegedly confused by the signs on it… So, he pulled a clearly marked fire alarm because he thought that that is how you open a door.

Republicans have suggested an alternative explanation: Bowman was attempting to disrupt the budget vote as Democrats were demanding more time after Republicans put forward another stopgap measure.

Now some commentators, conservatives, voters, and members of Congress are calling for Bowman to be expelled.

REP. BOWMAN SHOCKS MEDIA, CONSERVATIVES WITH ‘GARBAGE’ STATEMENT AFTER PULLING FIRE ALARM

I have previously called Bowman the perfect personification of our dysfunctional political times. He was shown on videotape screaming about gun control in the Capitol as his colleagues left the floor following a vote. Various Democratic members, including former House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., tried to calm Bowman. However, when Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., asked Bowman to stop yelling, Bowman shouted back: “I was screaming before you interrupted me.” I previously noted that it could go down as the perfect epitaph for our age of rage. 

New York Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman pulled a fire alarm at a congressional office building on Saturday (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via Getty)

However, this is more than a good rave next to the House floor. It could be a crime. If it were intended to disrupt the congressional proceedings, it could be treated as a felony. 

In D.C., this would more likely constitute a criminal misdemeanor. It would also obviously be treated as sanctionable conduct under the House rules. 

Bowman is not the only member looking at demands for expulsion. Various Republicans want to see Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla, expelled over long-standing ethical complaints stemming from his scandal involving alleged drug abuse and bribery. 

There is also the long-standing calls for the expulsion of Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., over his own scandal involving pending criminal charges.

‘SQUAD’ DEM JAMAAL BOWMAN OFFERS BIZARRE RESPONSE AFTER PULLING FIRE ALARM: ‘OPEN THE DOOR’

Some have noted that the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action in the Bronx, where Bowman was principal, reserved the right to expel students who pulled fire alarms. However, students are not elected to middle school to carry out constitutional functions as representatives of others.

Democrat Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D., represents New York’s 16th District in the United States House of Representatives. 

Expulsion remains a rare remedy in Congress. Despite hundreds of years of often deep and angry political divisions, only 20 members have been expelled and only 5 were expelled from the House. Think of that for a moment. Five House members in the prior roughly 250 years. We now have 3 in one year being considered.

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The House has had members that make the pirates of Penzance look like teetotalers. Past members have included some who were embodiments of the greedy and the grotesque.

The lack of expulsions historically has reflected an understanding that the use of this power can lead to a type of expulsion compulsion. Particularly in the House where members stand for office every two years, the voters are more than capable of determining whether scandals should disqualify a member from serving further. Rep. Gaetz was reelected despite the allegations against him, and he has not been charged with a crime.  

The evidence and the need for an expulsion should be overwhelming for the choice of voters to be negated by the body of the whole. In Bowman’s case, the criminal act is captured on videotape, but it is also likely a misdemeanor. Given the relatively minor offense, this would seem a matter better addressed through a House censure and other in-house consequences.

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Expulsion needs to remain the nuclear option when all other avenues are unavailable. The best avenue remains the voters. 

In the meantime, if doors continue to perplex Rep. Bowman, the residents of the New York 16th can decide whether to show him the exit in the next election.

22–1319. False alarms and false reports; hoax weapons.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to willfully or knowingly give a false alarm of fire within the District of Columbia, and any person or persons violating the provisions of this subsection shall, upon conviction, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be punished by a fine not more than the amount set forth in § 22-3571.01 or by imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Prosecutions for violation of the provisions of this subsection shall be on information filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.

(a-1) It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to willfully or knowingly use, or allow the use of, the 911 call system to make a false or fictitious report or complaint which initiates a response by District of Columbia emergency personnel or officials when, at the time of the call or transmission, the person knows the report or complaint is false. Any person or persons violating the provisions of this subsection shall, upon conviction, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be punished by a fine not more than the amount set forth in § 22-3571.01 or by imprisonment for not more than 6 months. Prosecutions for violation of the provisions of this subsection shall be on information filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.

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The Miami Marlins clinched a playoff spot in a full 162-game season for the first time since 2003 on Saturday night with a 7-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit his 19th home run of the season and Josh Bell had a two-run double as the team clinched a playoff spot. The Marlins made the postseason in 2020 but the playoffs were expanded due to the shortened season over the coronavirus pandemic.

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Miami Marlins players during a locker room celebration after the Marlins clinched a playoff berth with a 7-3 win over the Pirates in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

“I feel like we’re just the biggest family in the league,” Chisholm said after the game. “I feel like nobody is as connected as us as a team. I feel like when someone gets going, everybody gets going. That’s the plan here and we’re just family and we’re coming in together.”

In a full season, the Marlins have made the playoffs twice before and won the World Series each time. Miami defeated the Cleveland Indians in 1997 and the New York Yankees in 2003. In the shortened season, Miami was swept in the National League Division Series.

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Miami Marlins’ Josh Bell hits a sacrifice fly off Pirates relief pitcher Dauri Moreta, driving in a run, in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

“We’ve been living for six years with ‘Let’s Go Mets’ in our stadium all the time,” Marlins team owner Bruce Sherman said. “Mets didn’t finish. Yankees didn’t finish. San Diego didn’t finish. Payrolls three times ours and look what we did.”

There was little expectation for the Marlins to make any kind of noise. With young stars like Chisholm and Sandy Alcantara at the helm on the roster and Skip Schumaker as the manager, the team is thought to have a bright future. But the future came fast.

The Marlins entered September 67-67 and needed to fight teams like the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks to get the wild card. The team was 17-9 in September.

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Miami Marlins’ Jazz Chisholm Jr., right, celebrates with manager Skip Schumaker after the Marlins clinched a wild-card spot in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

“This team has just exemplified heart and they know it,” Marlins GM Kim Ng said. “And I think that is the driver of this group.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.