BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
Every time I think of the Miami Marlins vs the Chicago Cubs, what comes to mind is “The Fish” have won a pair of playoff series.
A year ago under first year Manager Skip Schumaker, the Marlins made it to the playoffs only to be ousted by the Philadelphia Phillies.
Ironically, this weekend Miami and Philadelphia are squaring off.
Had the Miami Marlins built on last season’s success, you never know, they could have been on a collision course to face the Cubs. I always like to see these two squads play at least one game per year.
The one I chose to attend occurred on Sunday, August 25, 2024.
In the first two games of the series, the Cubs defeated the Marlins by successive 6-3 and 14-2 scores. The attendance for the opener was 13,992 and for the second it was 18,138.
Could the Marlins at least salvage one game of this series?
If you looked at the pitching match-ups on paper, the answer would be no.
The Cubs sent right-handed pitcher Javier Assad, who entered the game with a 6-3 mark with a 3.11 ERA.
Meanwhile, Miami’s hurler was Adam Oller, a right-hander that entered the game with a 0-1 record with a 9.64 ERA.
The Marlins jumped on Assad early as Connor Norby and Jesus Sanchez hit homers in the first inning to give Miami a 2-0 lead. Norby was a thorn in the side for the Cubs as he came a triple shy of the cycle and went 3-4 on the afternoon. Norby’s homer was his fourth of the season and the first lead-off homer of his career.
Like we’ve seen pretty much all-season long, there have been wins for a lot of different Marlins pitchers. On this day, Oller picked up his first of the year by tossing 5.2 innings, yielding four hits and just one run, adding six strike outs. He only walked two and threw 95 pitches, 57 for strikes. His ERA dropped to 5.23.
The bullpen allowed only one run and the Marlins went on to earn a 7-2 win in front of 17,275.
Assad pitched seven strong innings. He gave up six hits and allowed three runs. He threw 87 pitches, 59 for strikes.
The Marlins proceeded to add four runs in the eighth inning to complete the scoring.
All in all, this was a frustrating afternoon for the team that plays in the north side of Chicago. Third baseman Patrick Wisdon was ejected by umpire James Jean as he threw his helmet on the ground and it bounced up.
Since the Cubs left Miami, they’ve managed to work their way into the National League Wild Card Picture. They left Miami with a 65-66 mark.
Chicago is 72-68 and is nine games back in the National League Central Division. In their last 10 games, the Cubs are 7-3.
They’ve scored 641 runs and yielded 584. They are currently four games back of Atlanta and the NY Mets in the Wild Card Chase under first year manager Craig Counsell.
Two days ago, Shoto Imanaga and two relievers combined for a no-hitter as the Cubs blasted the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 31-year old left-hander in his first season with the Cubs after pitching in Japan for eight seasons, struck out seven and walked two over seven innings. He threw 66 of 95 pitches for strikes to improve his record 12-3. The no-hitter for Chicago was the 18th in franchise history.
The Marlins have been playing better as of late.
Since the Cubs series, they hit the road and were 2-2 against the Colorado Rockies. They were 2-1 against the San Francisco Giants. After an off day on Tuesday, September 2, the Fish returned home and were 1-1 against the Washington Nationals.
This weekend Miami has a four game series against the Phillies. Philadelphia won Thursday’s contest 5-2.
While the Cubs are trying to reach the post-season, Miami has been officially eliminated from the playoffs. The Marlins are 52-88 for last place in the NL East, 32 games behind Philadelphia.
What’s left for the Marlins to play for. Their jobs!
This season has been like an extended Spring Training as Miami has to play as many players to see what their roster will look like in 2025.
As for Schumaker, he’s going to be a free agent and it will be interesting to see where he lands next season.
The Cubs season is a story that will play itself out over the next few weeks.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@Gmail.com. He can be found on Twitter/X @TribuneSouth.
If you want to see his broadcasts, please subscribe to the South Florida Tribune YouTube Channel.
Finally, he wrote a book, “Lessons From The Microphone” Tuning Into The Enduring Wisdom of Visionary Leaders that can be purchased on Amazon-Kindle and Barnes & Noble.
