Not the series the Marlins needed at all.

Game 1: No offense, no pitching

Miami lost the opener 6-1, and honestly there wasn’t much to like about this one. The offense didn’t show up, and the pitching didn’t do them any favors either. Just a rough start to the series across the board.

Game 2: Offense fights, pitching still lacking

Game 2 was closer, a 6-5 loss, and this time the offense actually put up a fight. The pitching still wasn’t where it needed to be, but the lineup kept battling and made it a one-run game before ultimately coming up just short. Frustrating loss, but at least a sign of life at the plate.

Game 3: Finally, everything clicks

Sunday was a completely different story. Both the offense and the pitching finally showed up at the same time, and the Marlins blew the Cubs out 10-3 to avoid the sweep. Good way to salvage something out of this series, even if it came a game too late.

The bigger picture

Losing this series 2-1 hurts more than it might look on paper. The Marlins are now 72-72 on the season and sitting 4 games back of the final Wild Card spot, and with only 18 games left to play, there just isn’t much room left to keep dropping series like this. Every series from here on out is basically must-win at this point if Miami wants to make a real push, and letting a winnable series against a good Cubs team slip away is exactly the kind of thing that could end up costing them a playoff spot down the stretch.

They’ll need to be a lot better than “show up for one game out of three” if they want to close this gap.

#FightinFish

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