By Bob Zayas, 360 Sports Cubs Beat Writer
10/2/20
The Cubs' 2020 Season ended this afternoon as the Miami Marlins won 2-0, sweeping this Wild Card Series.
While Yu Darvish pitched a decent six and 2/3 innings, the two earned runs he gave up were enough for the Marlins to prevail.
The Cubs also had two key missed opportunities to score.
One in the fourth inning, Wilson Contreras was thrown out the plate. Then one inning later, in the 5th when the Cubs failed to score with bases loaded.
Offensively, the Marlins had just five hits, but made the most of their opportunities, as Garrett Cooper hit a solo home run in the seventh off Darvish. Miami never looked back. Darvish allowed his second run on the game on an RBI single off the bat of Magneuris Sierra.
But while Miami had a rough day at the plate, the Cubs had it even worse. The hustle was there. The bats were not.
On the day, the Cubs had the same amount of hits as Miami, five, but could not find a way to put the ball in play in tight situations. On the day, the Cubs stranded sixteen base runners. As mentioned above, the fourth and fifth innings looked promising, but the runners could not find a way to advance.
Disappointment could be seen from the entire team, as a postseason of so much promise was swept away in just two rough games.
"This is one feeling that, I don't want it to come back next year," said Contreras, who was thrown out at the plate in the fourth. "I'm going to take this hard feeling, put it in my workouts and get even better offensively and defensively."
Tomorrow begins day one of the Cubs' preparation for the 2021 season. And while it did not end the way the team or its fans would have liked it to, as the saying goes, they'll just have to 'Wait til next year'.
The 2021 team should return some key components of this year's squad, notably Ian Happ and Javier Baez, although it is like Jon Lester, who has officially become a free agent with the season having ended, will not pitch another game as a Chicago Cub.
The Marlins now advance in the playoffs and play the Atlanta Braves.
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