The Chicago Cubs are underachieving in all facets of the game, but that hasn't stopped their star pitcher from performing at an All-Star level.
Chicago entered the final game of its four-game series with the San Francisco Giants on Thursday in danger of being swept.
Thankfully for the Cubs, rookie pitcher Shōta Imanaga turned in a stellar, five-hit performance across six innings and gave Chicago a chance to win, much like he's done all season.
Imanaga is 7-2 this season with 84 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.04. He's been Chicago's most valuable player by a long shot and is receiving All-Star buzz.
Reporting for The Athletic on Thursday night, senior writer Patrick Mooney expressed that Imanaga "deserves to be an All-Star," suggesting that the struggling Cubs would be in an unspeakably ugly position were it not for their ace.
"Imagine how bad this half-season would look if the Cubs had not signed Shota Imanaga to a four-year, $53 million contract last winter," Mooney said. "The Cubs are now 12-3 in Imanaga’s starts and 26-41 in the rest of their games, and the Japanese pitcher has done it with a certain flair that this team otherwise lacks."
Imanaga was not perfect on Thursday, allowing three earned runs in a somewhat unlucky sixth inning; nor has he been perfect in every start this year, with his outlier stinker against the New York Mets last week being an example.
Even so, Imanaga has been the most reliable player for the Cubs, and his uplifting performances have been the only consistently positive element of Chicago's frustrating campaign through 82 games.
Although the Cubs are looking like sellers heading into the trade deadline, Chicago can at least be thankful that it struck gold in 2024 with Imanaga.
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