Cubs clinch postseason spot as Marlins drop final road game of 2026

[Kevin Barral]

With a 2-1 win over the Miami Marlins, the Chicago Cubs have clinched a spot in the 2026 postseason while the Marlins dropped their 81st game of the season.

In his final start of the 2026 season, Tyler Phillips went four shutout innings, allowing three hits, four walks and struck out two. Phillips capped off a month of September posting a 2.11 ERA, allowing five runs on 13 hits. However, the Marlins did not trust him to provide length—his most recent time completing the sixth inning was June 28 against the St. Louis Cardinals.

After starting the season in the bullpen, a variety of injuries forced him to transition into the starting rotation. He went on to make 20 starts, posting a 4.00 ERA. Overall, he had a 3.34 ERA, 4.64 FIP, 7.18 K/9 and 3.98 BB/9 in a career-high 126 ⅔ innings pitched. Phillips will likely transition back into the bullpen for the 2027 season if All-Star Max Meyer and promising rotation candidates like Robby Snelling and Thomas White recover from their respective injuries.

The Marlins' lone source of runs came in the top of the third inning, a Jakob Marsee RBI single that gave the Fish an early 1-0 lead. Marsee is now slashing .230/.347/.356/.703 with 11 home runs, 41 RBI, 23 stolen bases and has reached a 100 wRC+ (exactly league average).

After Phillips came out of the game, the Marlins deployed Jack Ralston out of the bullpen. He allowed a game-tying home run to Seiya Suzuki, his 25th home run of the season. In the ensuing inning, Nico Hoerner gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead on an RBI single off Ralston.

Josh Ekness threw 1 ⅔ scoreless innings in the series finale. It was a notable series for Ekness, who on Tuesday recorded the second-fastest strikeout pitch by a Marlin under pitch tracking, behind only Tyron Guerrero at 102.5 mph. He now has a 3.34 ERA, 4.65 FIP, 6.98 K/9 and 6.07 BB/9 in 29 big league appearances.

This caps off a 33-48 record on the road for the Fish. It marks their worst record on the road since the 2024 team that went 32-49. There was a big drop-off in the effectiveness of their pitching staff away from home this season, allowing 4.81 runs per game compared to 3.96 runs per game at loanDepot park.

The Marlins will wrap up the 2026 season by hosting the Atlanta Braves with Eury Pérez taking the mound in Friday's series opener at 7:10 pm.

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[Hippyboi]

I don't understand why they didn't try to stretch out Philipps. I don't see White jumping into the rotation after a poor AAA and an injury. Sandy, Eury, Snelling, Myer and Gusto is nice, but I would have like to see Philipps given more of a shot at length.

Henriquez is back next year and if he is healthy he should be our closer + Peterson Fauchier and we need some lefties.

[UKPhil]

That was such an entertaining series. I didn't begrudge a minute of being kept up til 5.30am on Wednesday morning. Ralston's scoreless inning was one of the worst scoreless innings I have ever seen. Then again any scoreless inning is a good inning. Eury's inning was so impressive and the 6 run deluge at the end was a joy.

It was lovely to see Sandy having such a good time getting the save on Tuesday. Who would have thought that Sandy would discover a brand new fun hobby: closing ballgames. 

It was fitting that Ralston lost tonight's game. Sending him out in preference to Phillips shows up the organization's lack of genuine starting pitching.

[Jose Herrera]

Another great season. Way to go Dr. Phillips🍊

[1993 fan from start]

I felt Marlins gave up that game. simple as that.  lot of Cubs was making fun of Marlins lineup after the game.  and other teams where hating and felt Marlins gave away the game with the lineup. Just what I seen and watch. 

bad you start trying in last at bat with Conine. 

This season was not as great as people think..  all people will see looking back is that loosing streak. Aftar a great June..  I felt last year team was better..  The way the marlins handle Mets and yankees .    Plus marlins where in playoff race then fail out.   Offseason will be a long one for this team..   

[One Regend]

This team needs to take a long hard look at themselves over the offseason.

Is Clayton McCullough the guy to lead the team? (No, he's not.)
Who's going to replace Sandy? (They had literally 2 starting pitchers for basically 65% of the entire season and now they're down one because Sandy is a free agent, the Marlins are not picking up that club option, and I have no hopes they will re-sign Sandy.)
Is Eury Perez who we think he can be? (He's not Sandy 2.0. He's literally Edward Cabrera but with a different coat of paint. He gets shelled for 3 games in a row, and then goes out and pitches 9 1-hit innings next outing. You will never know what you're going to get from him on a given day.)
What is Agustin Ramirez's role on this team? (He can't catch, they don't want him to learn 1B, and he can't hit home runs anymore. What's even the point of having him then? Did they get hosed by the Jazz Chisholm Jr trade?)
What are the ramifications of the Ryan Weathers trade? (They gave up a guy who single-handedly could've gotten them to the post season (his innings + one of Phillips/Junk/Gusto in the bullpen rather than rotation). Were the prospects they got worth losing a playoff season?)
Is the Graham Pauley experiment at 3B finally over? (I hope to dear god it is.)