MIAMI - Desperately needing a sweep against the second-worst team in baseball, the Chicago Cubs followed up their best offensive showing of the season Saturday with another dud on Sunday.
They fell back under .500 again after a 7-2 loss to the Miami Marlins, making Saturday's 14-run outburst seem like a mirage.
"We didn't miss out on anything with hard-hit balls today," manager Craig Counsell said. "They just kind of beat us with fastballs. Just didn't have a good day on offense at all."
Javier Assad served up home runs to two of the first three batters he faced, then settled down to pitch well through seven innings. But Julian Merryweather imploded in the four-run eighth, putting the game out of reach.
The Cubs were held to six hits by Adam Oller and three relievers, failing to gain ground on Atlanta, which remained 5 1/2 games ahead in the third National League wild-card spot with 31 games remaining.
Counsell called it a "good series," but conceded it could have been a "great series … but we couldn't finish it." He called it "a little reminiscent of the Toronto series," where the Cubs won the first two against the Blue Jays and lost 1-0 in the finale.
Here are six questions from a weekend in Miami that started well and ended badly.
1. Do the Cubs have to change their goals now?
Ian Happ confirmed it was still "one series at a time" for the Cubs.
"Keep winning series like this, that's the goal," he said. "Obviously a sweep would've been great, but anytime you win a series on the road you take it as a positive."
Twenty-two of the Cubs' final 31 games are against sub-.500 teams, giving them a chance to at least end the season with 84 wins. That would be one better than last year's total, when they fell one game short of the third NL wild-card spot.
That's not the goal, of course, but it would technically be an improvement from 2023, as Chairman Tom Ricketts would no doubt point out in his season ticket renewal letter.
On paper, it looks like a most favorable schedule for the Cubs.
"That's your opinion," Counsell said before Sunday's loss.
True, though it's an opinion based on numbers …
"Just looking at the schedule, it hasn't helped in the past," Counsell said with a laugh. "You've got to play the games in front of you. I see a lot of difficult games. There is a major-league game in front of you. It's hard to win, and that's how you kind of treat it and approach it. Some of the road series appear to be challenging to me."
Two road series at the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies will certainly be difficult.
The rest? Meh.
2. How bad was losing a game to the Marlins?
Marlins manager Skip Schumaker might be the favorite to be the next White Sox manager. If so, he's getting great experience managing a horrible team. The Marlins are so awful they sent in a pinch-runner for Jesús Sánchez after Merryweather intentionally walked him in the eighth, but Sánchez turned around for the dugout before the runner, Cristian Pache, went to first.
Merryweather threw to first on an appeal and Sánchez was ruled out for not touching first.
Counsell said he "didn't really know the rule, but the fact that (Sánchez) didn't touch first base just looked odd, so we appealed just to make sure."
Counsell hadn't ever seen it happen before. No one queried had ever seen it happen before.
"Not even in Little League," Cubs radio analyst Ron Coomer said.
That's what makes baseball great. You never know if you'll see something for the first time.
3. Will Pete Crow-Armstrong eventually move up to the top of the lineup?
Crow-Armstrong came into Sunday's game hitting .302 in August with a .362 OBP and .981 OPS in 20 games. He was timed at 14.08 seconds running around the bases Friday, the fastest of six inside-the-park home runs this season. Every time he reaches base he's a threat to steal second, if not second and third.
But Counsell credits the improvement from the bottom of the order as a factor in the team's improved play in August and reiterated he's not considering moving Crow-Armstrong in the immediate future.
But with his speed and ability to manufacture runs, does Counsell consider PCA a future top-of-the-order hitter in 2025?
"I haven't put a lot of thought into that," Counsell said. "You want good offensive players at the top. Ideally, do they run well? Absolutely. Getting on base I would probably prioritize (up top), or just be a really good offensive player over speed. I think Pete has the attributes to move up there, for sure. It'll happen at the right time."
4. Who's the closer now that Héctor Neris is gone?
Counsell hasn't named one, but rookie Porter Hodge and veteran Jorge López appear to be co-closers for the time being.
"We've talked about Porter just throwing strikes, that's the thing for him," Counsell said. "Friday he struggled a little bit, but did enough of the good things. Eleven balls and 11 strikes, that's probably not how you want to proceed every day. But it's something he can get better at and he will. In Porter's case, it's just (getting an) opportunity."
López closed for a bad Baltimore team in 2022, posting 19 saves with a 1.68 ERA before being dealt to the Minnesota Twins for prospects.
"He's throwing 97 (mph) and if the hitters don't think they're strikes, they're right on the corners, that's a pretty good formula," Counsell said.
Since López is a free agent after this season, it makes sense to give Hodge more opportunities.
5. Will the Cubs reduce Shota Imanaga's workload down the stretch?
Imanaga has 140 innings under his belt in his first major league season. His career high in Japan was 170 innings in 2019. Earlier this season the Cubs had him skip a start to try and manage his workload.
"At this point, we're not looking at it," Counsell said. "He's going to pitch on his days. If there is a reason to make a change there and give him an extra day, we'll certainly consider it. But at this point, whenever Shota shows up, that's his day to pitch."
Jordan Wicks threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings Sunday in a rehab start Sunday for triple-A Iowa and has at least one more start. He figures to be a September call-up when the Cubs could go with six starters.
6. Is David Bote still in the organization?
Bote was designated for assignment Friday, but the Cubs announced after the game that Bote cleared waivers and was outrighted to triple-A Iowa. He's earning $5.510 million, and the Cubs are expected to decline his $7 million option for 2025 after the season.
