In continuing a streak dating back nearly a decade, South Florida will once again not be holding a victory parade for one of its professional sports teams this summer.
With four of the five teams making the postseason in 2020 and 2021 - the Miami Dolphins being the one exception - it wasn't like the area didn't have a chance to be hoisting at least one trophy.
But, the trio of the Miami Heat, Miami Marlins and Florida Panthers all came up empty and bring up quite the question: which team had the more disappointing ending?
(Yes, Inter Miami made the first round of the MLS playoffs last season and lost, but we're giving them a slight pass since it was an expansion season.)
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Miami Heat (Lost in first round of NBA Playoffs to Milwaukee)
The last team to win a championship in South Florida made some serious history this postseason: becoming the second team in the current NBA playoff format to go from sweeping its first round foe one year to being swept the following season.
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In this past series alone, the sixth seeded Heat went from a two point overtime loss in the first game to losing the next three by 34, 29 and 17 points - just one season after making the NBA Finals and having some believe Miami was better than they actually were.
Since the 'Big Three' era at the start of the last decade, the Heat have been arguably the most polarizing team in the NBA. With this early exit from the postseason, the pressure will now be on the front office and team president Pat Riley to make some adjustments in order to last longer than one playoff series.
Florida Panthers (Lost in first round of Stanley Cup Playoffs to Tampa Bay)
There is going to be some serious debate on both sides of the issue in this one after the Cats dropped Game Six of their opening round series last Wednesday inside the home arena of their cross-state rivals.
On one side, this was a Florida team who finished ahead of the Lightning in the regular season and ended up having to come back in both Games 3 and 5 just to keep the series interesting and later keep it alive for another game.
On the other hand, this was a Panthers team who had their best regular season since 2017-18 and hung in the playoffs with a Tampa Bay team who is the defending champs of the NHL. If Florida can keep its nucleus of talent together, a deeper playoff run could be coming as soon as next season.
Miami Marlins (Lost in National League Divisional Series to Atlanta Braves)
Okay, we can all be honest for a moment: the fact the Marlins were able to have a 2020 season should be praised after 10 of their first 16 games scheduled last season were postponed due to an outbreak of COVID-19.
Miami went into the postseason having never lost a playoff series in two previous appearances and took care of business in the Wild Card round against the Chicago Cubs - before the Marlins got swept in three games by divisional rivals Atlanta.
The Marlins have struggled to start the 2021 season, entering Monday with a 24-28 record that has them not even sniffing a postseason berth at this point. So, for the second time in franchise history, Miami may follow a playoff trip with a losing season.
