The Chicago Cubs have had Miami's number this week, and Saturday's 6-5 win at loanDepot Park continued a pattern that should worry the Marlins. This one wasn't as clean as Friday's 6-1 win, but the result was the same. Chicago has now beaten Miami in back-to-back games, and the Marlins are running out of answers.
This was a game the Cubs led throughout but never with much comfort, and Miami's late push nearly stole a game their offense had no business getting back into given how the middle innings went. Griffin Conine made sure it wasn't enough.
Conine was the best player on the field by a wide margin, turning in a 43.0 fantasy point performance that carried Miami's lineup even in a losing effort. He was the one bright spot in a game where the Marlins' pitching staff couldn't find a rhythm — Dax Fulton got the start and managed just 9.5 fantasy points before handing things to a bullpen that included Tyler Zuber, who chipped in 9.0. Neither was able to slow down a Cubs lineup that got contributions up and down the order.
Kyle Stowers gave Miami a second reliable bat, posting 33.5 fantasy points at first base, and Otto Lopez added 16.0 from the shortstop spot. It's the kind of offensive night that, on paper, should have been enough to win. But this Marlins team has now dropped three of its last five, with both wins in that stretch coming against Kansas City, and Saturday's loss is a reminder that solid individual performances aren't translating into results against the tougher competition on the schedule. Esteury Ruiz and Javier Sanoja rounded out the supporting cast with 8.0 and 7.0 points, respectively, but it wasn't enough to offset Chicago's balance.
For the Cubs, this was about depth winning out. Michael Conforto led the way with 34.0 fantasy points, continuing to be the steadying presence in Chicago's lineup that manager and teammates alike have leaned on. Behind him, Miguel Amaya quietly put together a strong night from the catcher spot with 20.8 points, while Michael Busch and Ian Happ each finished with 19.5. That's four Cubs hitters north of 19 fantasy points in the same game — the kind of across-the-board production that makes a lineup difficult to shut down for nine innings, especially when the opposing bullpen is scrambling.
Seiya Suzuki and Nico Hoerner each added 14.0 points, giving Chicago six players with legitimate offensive impact. On the mound, Javier Assad didn't dominate, but he did enough, finishing with 10.7 fantasy points in a start that kept his team in position to win. Pete Crow-Armstrong chipped in 10.5 points out of center field, rounding out a complete team effort that outlasted a Marlins club playing from a step behind most of the night.
The bigger picture here favors Chicago. Beating Miami in back-to-back games is exactly the kind of stretch a club wants — nothing flashy, just stacking wins against a team it's supposed to beat.
Miami, meanwhile, has real questions to answer. Conine and Stowers look like players who can carry a lineup on a given night, but the pitching staff's inability to protect leads or slow down opposing offenses has been the story of the last week. Three losses in five games isn't a crisis in the first week of September, but it's not the trajectory the Marlins wanted either, and continuing to lose to Chicago won't help their position as the season winds toward its stretch run.
For fans building lineups on JockBroker, Conine's monster night is the headline number here — 43.0 fantasy points from a player on the losing side is the kind of performance that reminds you box scores don't always tell the whole story. Chicago got the win, but Miami's right fielder was the best player on the field.
