With Inter Miami winning the Major League Soccer title on Saturday, South Florida teams have won championships in the five major North American sports.
Inter Miami, which was led by superstar Lionel Messi and beat Vancouver 3-1 on Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, joins the Miami Dolphins, Miami Heat, Miami Marlins and Florida Panthers as a championship franchise.
The Dolphins, led by Hall of Fame coach Don Shula, won the Super Bowl at the end of the 1972 and 1973 seasons. The Dolphins went 17-0 in 1972 and are still the only undefeated team in NFL history. Shula remains the NFL’s winningest coach.
The Marlins were the next Miami-area team to win a crown when they beat Cleveland in a thrilling Game 7 in 1997 at what is now Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Miami was led by manager Jim Leyland and several free agent acquisitions. Pitcher Livan Hernandez became a star in the postseason. He shouted, “I love you, Miami,” on his team’s field after winning the World Series MVP.
In 2003, the Marlins won the World Series again, topping the New York Yankees in six games. Miami was led by veteran manager Jack McKeon. Josh Beckett, who was 23 at the time, threw a shutout in the clincher and was named the World Series MVP.
The team’s playoff run became infamous in Chicago after “The Bartman Game” in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. Cubs fan Steve Bartman reached for a foul ball that Chicago left fielder Moises Alou was trying to catch. Bartman touched it, preventing Alou, who was on the Marlins’ 1997 title team, from catching it. The Marlins then erupted for eight runs and won that game and Game 7.
The Miami Heat joined the ranks of title winners by taking the 2006 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. After losing the first two games in Dallas, the Heat won the next four to win the championship. The team was led by Dwyane Wade, who was in his third season, Shaquille O’Neal and coach Pat Riley, who came down from the front office after Stan Van Gundy resigned early in the season.
The Heat’s Big 3 era produced titles in 2012 and 2013. Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh led the team to four straight appearances in the NBA Finals. After losing in 2011 to Dallas, the squad rebounded to win the next two titles against the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs. In 2014, San Antonio blew out the Heat, and the Big 3 era ended the next month when James returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Meanwhile, the Florida Panthers are the reigning NHL champs after beating the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final in the 2024 and 2025 seasons. The Panthers lost in the title round to Las Vegas in 2023. They had a great regular season in 2022 but were swept by Tampa Bay in the second round of the playoffs. After the season, GM Bill Zito made a major trade to bring in Matthew Tkachuk.