Chicago Cubs vs. Miami Marlins preview, Saturday 9/5, 3:10 CT

Today’s roster move: Here

Saturday notes…

IT’S BEEN A WHILE: A win today will be the Cubs’ third in a row. They have not won three straight since Aug. 9-12, when they won at Kansas City, 10-2, and after a day off won at Washington, 8-6 and 12-6. They have played 21 games since the last of those wins, going 9-12, including back-to-back wins twice, Aug. 17-18 at home vs. the White Sox and Aug. 23-24 at Seattle, then Arizona. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
DAY vs. NIGHT: The Cubs are just 31-30 in day games, a stark difference from their 49-32 at night. They are 9-14 in day games on the road but 7-9 in day games on the road following night games. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
GETTING AHEAD AND STAYING AHEAD: The Cubs never trailed in their wins Thursday and Friday. They had not done that in consecutive games since July 27-28, when they won at St. Louis, 7-3 and 10-2. They have played 35 games since then, going 19-16. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
JUST ONE RUN: The Cubs have allowed one run in each of the last two games. They had allowed no more than one in back-to-back games twice before this season, April 19-20 and June 12-13. They have given up one or zero runs in 15 total games, one of every 9.5 they have played. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

Cubs lineup:

Marlins lineup:

Javier Assad, RHP vs. Ryan Gusto, RHP

In the words we used to use all the time for Kyle Hendricks: “All he does is get guys out.”

That really does apply to Javier Assad, who returns to make this start. The assumption I make is that the Cubs are pushing Clay Holmes, whose turn it would have been today, back so he can start in Milwaukee sometime next week.

Assad has been up and down from Triple-A Iowa multiple times this year. However, in the major leagues since May 1, here are his numbers: 2.24 ERA, 0.995 WHIP, 6.0 percent walk rate. A few too many home runs (12 in 64.1 innings) but out of his 17 outings since May 1, he allowed one or no runs in 12 of them and the Cubs are 15-2 in those games.

Go get ’em, Javier.

Ryan Gusto was an 11th-round pick of the Astros in 2019 and came to the Marlins at the 2025 Trade Deadline in the deal that sent Jesus Sanchez to Houston.

He’s been in 19 games (14 starts) this year with middling results. Gusto pitched four innings in relief against the Cubs June 28, 2025 in Houston and allowed seven hits and four runs, including a two-run homer by Seiya Suzuki.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

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