Potential Impact of a More Consistent Season from Cubs Ace
Japanese pitcher Shota Imanaga spent the 2025 season, his second in the MLB, playing in the number one spot in the Chicago Cubs’ starting pitcher rotation. While there’s no doubt that Imanaga possesses the talent to hold such a role, his 2025 campaign was defined by inconsistency. In the early months of the season, the 32-year-old was on fire, highlighted by his strong showing in April. The Cubs went 4-1 in games Imanaga saw the mound, and he recorded an impressive 24 strikeouts. However, Imanaga’s production came and went in the latter half of the season. He went 2-3 in September with an ERA of 6.51 and lost the two postseason games he pitched against San Diego and Milwaukee, surviving four innings or fewer in both.
Not so coincidentally, Imanaga’s decline on the mound signaled that the Cubs’ season as a team was over. At the end of May, Imanaga had an ERA of just 3.02, and the team was 36-22, putting them on pace for about 101 wins, which would have been the best record in the MLB. By the end of the year, Imanaga’s ERA had risen to 3.73, and the team finished with 92 wins, coming in second in their division. Imanaga's time away due to a hamstring injury and his subsequent underperformance upon return took a serious toll on the team’s collective performance.
Imanaga was initially set to enter free agency at the end of the 2025 season, but in November, he accepted the qualifying offer to remain on the roster another year. 2026 will be Imanaga’s opportunity to prove himself as a viable starter, as worthy of a contract extension, as a central piece of the Cubs’ future. Of course, the team’s rotation as a whole will be much stronger this season than last, with the addition of Edward Cabrera and the eventual expected return of Justin Steele, which is all the more reason for the long-time Yokahama Bay Star pitcher to find his determination to keep his spot. One thing’s for sure: if Imanaga posts a strong 2026 campaign akin to his performance in 2024 and early 2025, the sky is the limit for the Chicago Cubs.
