This has been one of those series. You know, the one where the Cubs make solid contact but it finds a glove. I mean, not a lot of solid contact in these first two games. But when they do, it finds a defender. Meanwhile, the Marlins feel like they’ve had a never ending run of seeing eye grounders. It feels whiny to say that. But I’m not whining about the occurrence. The Cubs have done it to other teams plenty. It’s definitely part of the game. Were I going to whine, it would be about the timing of it.
Between that and the storm bearing down on Boston, these were the last things the Cubs needed right now. I suppose, of the two, the pesky Marlins are the more frustrating one. If the Cubs could win these games, those games might not matter, or at least would matter less. The most important clinch of all hasn’t happened yet.
It’s early for me to write about Scoreboard Watching, but I look at scores across baseball and I tip my cap to the also-rans of MLB in 2026. They understand their role as spoilers here in the final playoff push. I look around the league and I see the Mets beating the Rangers, the Royals beating the White Sox, and of course the Marlins beating our Cubs. No doubt I hate seeing the Marlins doing this, but if they were doing it to the Padres or the Phillies, I’d be delighted. So I get it.
It’s all just disappointing because the pitching has done its job in this series, save the 12th inning Tuesday. As painful as that was to watch, I’m not going to throw a bullpen under the bus that got the game to the 12th inning. That wasn’t teams exchanging runs as you sometimes see in modern extra inning games. That was the bullpen closing the door for several innings and giving the offense a plethora of opportunities to win the game.
Two games into this series, the offense has four runs in 21 innings. Even those four runs feel a little fluky. Certainly the Tuesday rally benefitted from a miscue by the Marlins defense. The other three runs in the series have come from a few of those seeing eye type of hits that have benefitted the Cubs. Both the wind blowing in and the absence of Alex Bregman have paired with an effective job by the Marlins staff to frustrate the Cubs for two straight nights.
It’s not hard to imagine the Marlins coaching staff talking to their team about these games being what a playoff atmosphere is. The Cubs are a team that is in a position that the Marlins are trying to get to. They’ve been playing these games for a little while now. Before this, it was the Padres. Before that it was the Diamondbacks. Before that it was the Dodgers. After this, it will be the Braves. That’s a brutal stretch to be sure. Credit where it is due, they are 6-5 with four to go in this stretch of 15 straight games against playoff teams. Young, hungry and aggressive.
As to the Cubs, I staked out my position a little while ago. Your mileage may vary. But I believe this team will answer the bell, be ready to go and not be intimidated by any team in the playoffs. That isn’t me saying they’ll win. Heck, I’m not saying they won’t get blown out. But they aren’t going to be a team moping around because they struggled some in September. That doesn’t mean they didn’t blow all kinds of good opportunities. It could result in them having to go on the road for games that should have been in Wrigley. We aren’t going to know that before at least Friday. If whomever is that first opponent isn’t ready to play, the Cubs are going to make them hate life. If that team is sharp, it may be tough for this Cub team.
I’m not about to jump off of the bandwagon. I see a bunch of people doing so. It’s okay, I’ll see you all back next week after the Cubs win their first game. Don’t forget to at least keep an eye out for Pete Crow-Armstrong to find his 40th stolen base of the season. He has a flair for the dramatic, don’t be surprised if he finds a homer or two and possibly the MLB home run championship. It’s been a great season. You made it this far, stay on the ride.
Three Positives:
- Michael Busch had a pair of singles and scored one of the two runs.
- Dansby Swanson had a single and a walk. He drove in both runs.
- The pitching was pretty good and one of them ought to get some love. I’ll give the kudos to Kevin Gausman. One out shy of a quality start. He allowed only two runs and struck out seven. He also made a neat play for that last out. And he threw the full 100 pitches that cap the day of most major leaguers these days. Hopefully, he just needs an ice back and a chiropractic visit after that last play and will be fine.
Game 158, September 23: Marlins 3, Cubs 2 (87-71)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Dansby Swanson (.115). 1-3, BB, 2 RBI
- Hero: Jacob Webb (.095). 1.1 IP, 6 BF, H, BB, 2 K
- Sidekick: Michael Busch (.057). 2-4, R
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Carson Kelly (-.215). 0-1, DP
- Goat: Ryan Rolison (-.173). 0.2 IP, 4 BF, 2 H, R, K (L 9-2)
- Kid: Miguel Amaya (-.111). 0-3
WPA Play of the Game: Dansby Swanson’s two-run single with two outs in the sixth inning tied the game. (.270)
Marlins Play of the Game: The two-run homer by Kyle Stowers with one out in the fifth for the first two runs of the game. (.241)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 157 Winner: Pete Crow-Armstrong received 31 of 63 votes.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
- Alex Bregman +26
- Pete Crow-Armstrong +25.5
- Shōta Imanaga +15
- Carson Kelly +13.5
- Ben Brown +13.5
- Jameson Taillon -13
- Dansby Swanson -14
- Nico Hoerner -16
- Caleb Thielbar -17.5
- Seiya Suzuki -20
Scoreboard Watching: The Phillies and Cubs both lost. That leaves the two of them tied. The Padres defeated the Dodgers and moved into the first Wild Card slot, the Cubs second by tiebreaker and then the Phillies. The Diamondbacks won and are serious about making all of these teams sweat a little. I still feel very confident that in some order it will be the Padres, Cubs and Phillies.
Up Next: The series finale. The Cubs have now lost three of five to the Marlins. In general, the Cubs were good against the best teams and mediocre against everyone else, the obvious exception being the Brewers. The Cubs can split the season series with a win in the finale. Matthew Boyd (9-5, 4.06) will get the finale. Boyd snapped a long, rough streak with a good start last time out. He allowed one run over five innings and beat the Reds in Cincinnati. He did not face the Marlins in Miami.
28-year-old righty Tyler Phillips will start for the Marlins. The 2015 16th round pick of the Rangers (468 overall) is 5-6 with a 3.45 ERA. He beat the Cubs in Miami. He allowed three runs over five innings. He’s split his year between the rotation and bullpen, appearing in 36 games and making 19 starts. He has two saves. He’s been a part of the Marlin plan of having the back three-fifths of their rotation limited to five innings or less. It was June 28th the last time he threw more than six. There is only one other game he’s thrown more than five and that was back on August 13 against the Pirates. When he gets in trouble, it’s usually walks. He walks almost four per nine innings. That’s not an insane number by any means. But for a guy on a limited pitch count to begin with, that’s not optimal.
Gotta win this one at this point. Find a way.
