Cubs Preview: Everything you need to know about the Marlins

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For the fifth time in six seasons, the Chicago Cubs will take part in postseason baseball.

The feeling of October baseball is one many associated with the Chicago Cubs have grown accustomed to in recent years. Still, the same cannot be said for the team awaiting them in the first round–the Miami Marlins.

Since they first came into the league in 1993, this year marks just the third time in franchise history the Marlins have reached the postseason. Miami qualified as a playoff team by winning the Wild Card in 1997 and 2003, where they would eventually go on to become World Series Champions in each year.

Both the Cubs and Marlins faced off in the 2003 NLCS, and if you’re a fan of baseball, you probably know what happened, so I’ll save the time and pain for Cub-fans by sparing the details.

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A better question would be, what is the over/under on how many times the television broadcasters will mention this during the Wild Card Series?

Nonetheless, the Marlins (31-29) played their way into the second place in the NL East and the sixth overall seed in the National League.

It’s safe to say Miami’s CEO, Derek Jeter (yes, the former Yankee), could not have expected his team to qualify for the playoffs so soon in a rebuilding process. Especially considering the number of games missed due to positive COVID-19 tests in the early weeks of the season.

There were plenty of jokes being tossed around on the internet about how the MLB should continue the season anyways without the Marlins, who would probably be irrelevant.

Yet through all the turmoil, manager Don Mattingly kept his team (with lots of players brought in from the alternate training site) playing hard, and now they have a legitimate shot at a World Series like the other 15 teams in the playoffs.

You might not recognize a lot of faces, but they are a scrappy group:

On paper, it’s a bit of a David and Goliath matchup, but that’s no reason for the Cubs to take this team lightly, especially considering the best-of-three format for the Wild Card Series.

The Cubs will have home-field advantage, but all it takes is a bad offensive performance in game one like we have many times this season, and all of a sudden, they’re playing from behind.

If that’s the case, it’ll be a quick October.

The veteran starters of the Cubs hold the advantage over a young Marlins rotation

While there have been no official announcements on a set rotation for either team, these will likely be the starters used in some order.

Probable Pitching Matchups:

Game 1: Wednesday 2 pm Sandy Alcantara (3-2, 3.00 ERA) vs. Yu Darvish (8-3, 2.01 ERA)

All signs point towards the Cubs sending one of the best in baseball to the mound for the series opener in Yu Darvish.

Darvish has put together a Cy Young caliber season in 2020 and has come up big for the Cubs at times this season when they have been desperate for a win to end a losing streak. This makes me believe Darvish will do the same in the postseason.

His opponent will be Sandy Alcantara, who made the National League All-Star team last season.

Just 24-years old, Alcantara threw a quality start in six of his seven outings this season. The right-hander posted a 1.190 WHIP in his 42 innings pitched this season.

David Ross should play a lot of lefties in the lineup against Alcantara, who struggled a bit in that department this season:

vs RHB .190 BA .474 OPS

Vs LHB .268 BA .859 OPS

Game 2: Thursday Pablo Lopez (6-4, 3.61 ERA) vs. Kyle Hendricks (6-5, 2.88 ERA)

Look for the Cubs to change speeds up in game two when Kyle Hendricks takes the mound.

The Professor has been lights out in September, allowing just six combined earned runs in his last five starts.

For the Marlins, Pablo Lopez will be on the hill at some point in this series. Similar to Alcantara, Lopez also struggles more against left-handed batters.

In his five starts in September, Lopez has surrendered a combined 15 earned runs.

The 24-year old right-hander has a high ground ball rate (52.2 percent) and has surrendered just four home runs in 57 1/3 innings pitched this season.

Game 3: Friday Sixto Sanchez (3-2, 3.46 ERA) vs. Jon Lester (3-3, 5.16 ERA)

If there is a game three in this series, it will be interesting to see who both managers decide to start.

For the Cubs, I think Ross will go with the veteran Jon Lester. The lefty has had a few rough outings this season, including his last time out against the White Sox (3 2/3 IP 7 ER), but he has also pieced together seven starts this season to allow two runs or fewer.

Given his playoff track record, I think you ride-or-die with Big Jon in this postseason and hope for the best. If he is on the mound in the deciding game, he will have a short leash, and waiting to come in will likely be Alec Mills, Adbert Alzolay, and Jose Quintana.

The same game plan will likely be in place for Don Mattingly and the Marlins.

Rookie right-hander Sixto Sanchez could be the likely choice, though he has had back-to-back rough outings to end the season. Before that, the No. 19 MLB Prospect tossed four straight quality starts.

All these starters for the Marlins are young and have never thrown in the playoffs before. To me, this means just as much as any type of statistics in a box score.

Sure there won’t be any fans in attendance, but the nerves and adrenaline of pitching in the postseason will still be there.

The Chicago Cubs bullpen worst to second best

After a dreadful start to the season, the Cubs bullpen went from being the worst in baseball to finishing with the second-best ERA–2.96.

Look for David Ross to use some combination of Jeremy Jeffress and Craig Kimbrel in late-inning situations.

Hard-throwing left-hander Brailyn Marquez made his big league debut in the season finale, and while it was far from great (2/3 IP 5 ER), his number will likely be called again in the postseason.

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Ryan Tepera (20 2/3 IP 3.92 ERA), Dan Winkler (18 1/3 IP 2.95 ERA), and Andrew Chafin (3 IP 3.00 ERA) will all play critical roles at some point in October as well.

They might not be the most prominent names, but up to this point, they have performed better than Miami’s bullpen.

The Marlins relievers posted the fifth-worst ERA in baseball (5.50) this season.

Former-Cub Brandon Kintzler (24 1/3 IP 2.22 ERA) has struggled in terms of strikeouts (14) and walks (11), but has nonetheless been significant as the team’s closer.

The biggest weapon in the Marlins comes in the form of Yimi Garcia, who has allowed just one earned run while striking out 19 batters and walking five in 15 innings pitched this season.

Look for right-hander James Hoyt (14 2/3 IP 1.23 ERA) and lefty Richard Bleier (13 2/3 IP 2.63 ERA) to be called out of the bullpen well throughout the series.

In a perfect world, the starters would go at least seven or eight innings with the offense providing many runs, so the bullpen won’t be a factor.

Unfortunately, that’s not how playoff baseball works, and the bullpens will prove to be vital at some point in the postseason.

Cubs, Marlins offense not going to provide sparks

As a team, the Marlins offense is not one that will be feared by opposing pitchers.

Miami finished with 60 home runs (26th-MLB), a .244 BA (16th-MLB), and a .703 OPS (23rd-MLB).

Granted, the team statistics of the Cubs are slightly worse and not much better in some categories, but the idea is the difference in talent.

The Cubs have superstar players who have struggled for the majority of the season, so the hope is they find a way to turn it on in the postseason.

Miami doesn’t have a group of star-studded position players, but they have a mix of veterans and youth that have gotten them to this point, which could be dangerous in the playoffs.

In his sixth big-league season, infielder Miguel Rojas has put together his best offensive numbers through 40 games played: 4 HR 20 RBI .304 BA .888 OPS.

Other key members of the offense include first baseman Jesus Aguliar. The big right-hander is having a solid first season in Miami (8 HR 24 RBI .277 BA .809 OPS) but surprisingly isn’t leading the team in home runs.

That honor belongs to third baseman Brian Anderson (11 HR .255 BA), who also led the team in RBI (38) and games played (59) this season.

Other Marlins Position Players:

DH Garrett Cooper: 6 HR 20 RBI .283 BA .853 OPS

INF Jonathan Villar: 2 HR 9 RBI .259 BA .660 OPS

2B Jon Berti: 2 HR 14 RBI .258 BA .738 OPS

LF Corey Dickerson: 7 HR 17 RBI .258 BA .713 OPS

RF Starling Marte: 6 HR 27 RBI .281 BA .770 OPS

C Jorge Alfaro: 3 HR 16 RBI .226 BA .624 OPS

These names aren’t flashy, and you probably won’t see their jerseys being sold any time soon.

Next. Keys for the Cubs in Round One. dark

The scary part about a team like this is they know they have nothing to lose, and that type of confidence of playing with their backs against the wall is the same way the 2003 Marlins played.

Granted, that ’03 team had a few Hall of Famers, and these Marlins probably do not, but still, they are capable of pulling off an upset or two in the postseason.

That is why the Cubs need to come out and set the tone from the start in game one. They have multiple players and coaches who have won a World Series not too long ago, and this experience is something they need to use to their advantage against the Marlins.

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