Let this stand as a monument to perhaps the worst Cubs defeat of the entire 2026 season:
I could just end the tale of the Cubs’ 8-2 loss to the Marlins Tuesday evening at Wrigley Field right there, because that’s basically the entire story. Runners all over the place, RISP left in the third, fifth, sixth (bases loaded, one out!), seventh, ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th innings.
Had enough? I sure did after four hours, 10 minutes of that.
Oh, and then there was Edward Cabrera getting pounded all over the place.
If the Cubs could have had just one more key hit in several different situations, they win and Cabrera’s never even in the game.
Sigh. Let’s recap anyway.
The game went scoreless into the fourth, starters Shōta Imanaga and Janson Junk keeping most trouble off the basepaths, helped by a 12 mile per hour wind blowing in. Imanaga also helped himself by picking off Heriberto Hernandez in the third [VIDEO].
The play was close, ruled safe on the field, overturned on review.
The other thing worth noting in the first three innings was Pete Crow-Armstrong drawing a two-out walk and stealing second, his 39th, bringing him within one of a 40/40 season [VIDEO].
The Marlins took the lead in the fourth. Kyle Stowers doubled off Imanaga with one out and two singles brought him in to make it 1-0. But Imanaga ran up a high pitch count in that inning and so was done after five, having thrown 91 pitches. More on Imanaga’s night from BCB’s JohnW53:
Shōta Imanaga’s start was the sixth by a Cub this season of exactly five innings with at least 91 pitches.
It was the third by Imanaga. Edward Cabrera has two and Kevin Gausman, one.
Imanaga gave up only one run in each of his starts. The first was 92 pitches at Cleveland on April 5 and the second was 102 pitches at Cincinnati on July 10.
Aaron Civale, who’s been so good in relief this year, wasn’t on this night. Stowers, the second batter he faced, hit a towering home run to left that sliced through the wind, making it 2-0.
The Cubs could do little with Janson Junk through five innings, but tied things up in the sixth. PCA hit a ground ball up the middle that went for a hit after review. A single by Seiya Suzuki moved PCA to third.
Then this happened [VIDEO].
A poor throw to the plate allowed PCA to score and Suzuki to take third. Junk was removed (that’s a baseball move, not commentary) and reliever Cade Gibson struck out pinch-hitter Matt Shaw. (This is where the Cubs really miss Alex Bregman.)
Ian Happ was next, and he singled in Suzuki to tie the game at 2 [VIDEO].
Busch took third on the hit. Nico Hoerner was then hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out.
This is where the Cubs offense should have broken this game open. But they did not. Pedro Ramirez hit a line drive to first and Carson Kelly struck out, leaving the game tied heading to the seventh.
Civale threw a scoreless seventh. With two out in the bottom of the inning, PCA doubled and Busch was intentionally passed. Shaw hit a line drive to right that was caught to end the inning.
Daniel Palencia threw the eighth, retiring all three Marlins he faced on just eight pitches, hitting 100 again several times. This is really good news. But the Cubs were retired in order in the bottom of the inning by Eury Perez, normally a starter. In this game, the first relief appearance of his career, he struck out Happ, Hoerner and Ramirez to send the game to the ninth.
Palencia recorded a strikeout to begin the ninth, then Ryan Rolison entered the game, allowing a single to the first hitter he faced, then retiring the side without incident.
So the Cubs now have a chance to walk things off. PCA hit a double down the right-field line with two out. But there he stood as Suzuki popped up to send the game to extras.
Rolison struck out the first two Marlins in the 10th but with the right-handed Hernandez due up, Ryan Zeferjahn was summoned. After wild-pitching the placed runner to third, Zeferjahn ended the inning by getting this fly to left [VIDEO].
In the bottom of the 10th, Suzuki was the placed runner. Busch was given another intentional walk after running the count to 3-0. That walk set a franchise record. From John:
The intentional walk to Michael Busch in the 10th inning was the Cubs’ third walk of the game and 657th of the season, breaking the team record of 656 set in 2016. That had been six more than their previous high of 650, which had stood for 41 years, since 1975.
This is only the ninth season since 1901 in which the Cubs have reached 600 walks. The most recent had been 2017, with 622.
At their current pace, the Cubs will finish with 679. Only three teams have had more in the past 25 years: the 2003 Yankees, 684; 2007 Red Sox, 689; and 2004 Giants, 705.
Shaw attempted to bunt. This is not a bad strategy in the bottom of an extra inning with the game tied, a runner on second and nobody out. You want to get that winning run to third, where it could score on a fly ball. The thing is, bunting is becoming a lost art. After taking two pitches out of the zone, Shaw bunted a ball foul, then popped up another bunt to the pitcher.
Happ then flied to left, but Hoerner drew a walk to load the bases. Ramirez ran the count to 3-1. One more ball and the Cubs win! But Ramirez took strike two, then grounded to second.
In the 11th, Rolison gave up a single, then struck out Stowers. But that was followed by a walk to load the bases. In came Caleb Thielbar, who retired the next two Marlins to end the inning.
Ramirez was the placed runner in the bottom of the 11th, but he went nowhere. Kelly and Dansby Swanson struck out and after PCA was intentionally passed, Suzuki grounded out to send the game to the 12th, making this the longest game by innings at Wrigley Field since May 7, 2023 — also against the Marlins. (The Cubs won that game 4-3.)
Here’s where the wheels fell off. Thielbar gave up a bloop single to left to Griffin Conine, scoring placed runner Esteury Ruiz to make it 3-2. A sacrifice bunt — see, someone does know how to do that! — moved Conine to second, where a single by Jacob Marsee made it 4-2.
Two runs is not an insurmountable deficit in extra innings, but Edward Cabrera entered the game and made it that way. I’ll spare you most of the carnage, but the first five batters Cabrera faced did this: walk, hit batter, walk, single, single and it’s 8-2.
This performance made one Cubs decision easy. Edward Cabrera’s not going to be on any Cubs postseason roster, not pitching like that. This had “Ryan Pressly’s nine-run extra inning” vibes all over it.
The Cubs then went down meekly 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 12th to end the game in four hours, 10 minutes, the first Cubs game to run four-plus hours since Sept. 16, 2023, a 13-inning game at Arizona.
Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].
After all that, this is still not the end of the world. The Cubs could have clinched a postseason spot with a win (since the Diamondbacks also won), but that will have to wait until at least tonight. The Padres and Phillies won their games Tuesday, so now all three — Cubs, Padres, Phillies — are tied at 87-70. The Cubs have the tiebreaker in all situations with those two teams, including in a three-way tie. That means if the Cubs can win out, they’d still get the top wild card spot no matter what the other teams do.
But the Cubs are going to have to find ways to win games like these, or any postseason run this year is going to be short. Again, you can clearly see where the presence of a hot-hitting Alex Bregman might have won this one.
The Cubs will look to even up this series Wednesday evening at Wrigley Field. Kevin Gausman will start for the Cubs and Ryan Gusto goes for Miami. Game time is again 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
