CHICAGO — The New York Mets at Wrigley Field Shota Imanaga’s Kryptonite.
The Cubs starter had his worst outing of the season last year against the Mets, when he allowed 10 runs in three innings.
Thursday night, Imanaga was hit hard again, surrendering eight runs and two homers in 5.2 innings. For the second straight year, his worst start of the season came against the Mets at The Friendly Confines.
Here are three things we learned from the Cubs’ 8-5 loss to the Mets:
Coming down to the wire …
The Cubs are still fighting to hold off the San Diego Padres and clinch homefield advantage for the NL Wild Card Series next week.
They entered Thursday with a magic number of two, and it will remain that way with the Cubs’ loss while the Padres had the day off.
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The Cubs will need two wins, two Padres losses or some combination of those outcomes this weekend to secure the series at Wrigley Field.
The Padres are hosting the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are clinging to life in the NL playoff race. The Cubs will host the St. Louis Cardinals, who have already been eliminated from postseason contention.
Ideally, the Cubs would have locked up the top wild-card seed days ago, but a five-game losing streak coupled with Thursday’s loss has made things interesting in the race.
A developing concern …
Imanaga came into the season as the ace of the rotation after a spectacular rookie campaign in 2024.
His overall numbers still look very solid — 3.73 ERA, 0.98 WHIP — but it has been a struggle for Imanaga recently, especially with the home run ball.
The 32-year-old southpaw allowed at least three runs in each of his five September starts and carries a 6.50 ERA in the month. He has also served up 10 homers in those five starts and has surrendered 31 longballs on the season.
That’s certainly not the way the Cubs want to go into the playoffs with one of their best starting pitchers, especially with Cade Horton now a major question mark.
Imanaga is on schedule to pitch in the wild-card series next week against the Padres if the Cubs decide to call his number. But if he does get the ball, what kind of performance can the team expect?
At this point, it’s hard to say — which is a surprise given Imanaga’s strong track record through his first two MLB seasons.
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A major boost …?
When the Cubs offense was humming in the first half of the season, Seiya Suzuki was a big part of the lineup’s success.
The DH/outfielder posted an .867 OPS with 25 homers and 77 RBI in the first half and was seen by many around the game as one of the biggest All-Star snubs.
His second half has been a different story.
Entering play Thursday, Suzuki was hitting .201 with a .597 OPS and only two homers and 16 RBI in 55 games since the break.
That all changed against the Mets on Thursday evening.
He doubled his second-half home run total and drove in four runs.
That would be a major boost to a Cubs lineup that is unsure what to expect from All-Star Kyle Tucker, who has missed almost all of September while tending to a calf injury. The Cubs’ other All-Star, Pete Crow-Armstrong, has also struggled in the second half (.206 AVG, .596 OPS entering play Thursday).
If Suzuki stays hot to finish out the season, it actually brings up an interesting conundrum for the Cubs and manager Craig Counsell.
With Crow-Armstrong and Ian Happ locked into center and left field, respectively, that leaves only two spots in the starting lineup (right field and DH) for Tucker, Suzuki and Moisés Ballesteros.
The rookie Ballesteros has been one of the team’s best hitters over the last couple weeks and has certainly earned a spot on the team’s playoff roster. He has a strong case to crack the lineup against right-handed pitching, but how can the Cubs get him at-bats if Tucker is back and Suzuki continues to rake?