The Miami Marlins finished the season with a 31-29 overall, and they were four games behind Atlanta in the NL East. This was unexpected as the Marlins were coming off a 105-loss season last year. The offense is led by Brian Anderson with 11 home runs and he drove in 38. Jesus Aguilar hit .277 with eight home runs and 34 RBI's. Miguel Rojas led the team in batting at .304. The Marlins will send Sandy Alcantara to the mound. He made seven starts this season and posted a 3-2 record with a 3.00 ERA.

The Chicago Cubs went 34-26 this season and took the NL Central division. The Chicago offense was very inconsistent all season but they were still able to win the division. Ian Happ led the Cubs with 12 homers, 28 RBI, and a .258 batting average. Kyle Schwarber and Anthony Rizzo each had 11 homers and 24 RBI. The Cubs made a somewhat surprising decision by sending Kyle Hendricks to the mound. He has made twelve starts this season and posted a 6-5 record with a 2.88 ERA.

Hendricks is 3-1 in his last five starts allowing just six earned runs. The only concern in this series is the Cubs hitting. The last couple of seasons the Cubs have been unable to hit in the playoffs and down the stretch and this season they were very inconsistent at the plate. They did start to hit in their last three games against the White Sox and I look for that to carry over into the playoffs.

Play on the Chicago Cubs.