{"id":75293,"date":"2025-06-03T04:35:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T04:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/75293\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T04:35:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T04:35:16","slug":"cubs-shota-imanaga-sends-message-to-chicago-fans-amid-pending-return-from-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/75293\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs’ Shota Imanaga Sends Message to Chicago Fans Amid Pending Return From Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cubs’ Shota Imanaga Sends Message to Chicago Fans Amid Pending Return From Injury<\/a> originally appeared on Athlon Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coming over to America for the first time is never easy for any player in Major League Baseball. For left-hander Shota Imanaga of the Chicago Cubs, one of the top starters in the game, there were things he had to learn.<\/p>\n

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However, Imanaga did everything the right way, trying to win over Chicago fans the best he could.<\/p>\n

As a result, many in the Windy City love him, and it’s easy to see why.<\/p>\n

Not only has he thrown to the likes of a 2.89 ERA in his career, but Imanaga is awesome on and off the field. He’s always cracking jokes, having fun with his teammates, and seems to want to win, most importantly.<\/p>\n

When speaking with NBC News, he talked about what Chicago fans have meant to him and how he wanted to win them over when he first joined the team.<\/p>\n

\"Chicago<\/p>\n

Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga (18) walks toward the mound to be checked out by a trainer after being injured against the Milwaukee Brewers in the sixth inning at American Family Field.Michael McLoone-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

He admitted that Cubs fans were probably wondering who he was as a player and person, but it was essential for him to get acclimated with the ball club.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen I first got to the Cubs, I think a lot of the fans were, \u2018Who is this pitcher?\u2019\u201d Imanaga said<\/a>. \u201cAnd so for me, it was really important to get acclimated with the team, with the fans. What was important was to pick something that all the Chicago fans love.\u201d<\/p>\n

His comments came after he had the song “Chelsea Dagger” as his walk-up song, a tune known in Chicago as the goal song for the Chicago Blackhawks, per NBC.<\/p>\n

Imanaga hasn’t thrown in a game since May 4, but is expected to return sometime in the near future.<\/p>\n

When he does, the Cubs should be an even better team, already leading the National League Central and attempting to run away with the division before it is even July.<\/p>\n

Related: Cubs Listed as Prime Trade Candidate for Padres’ Former First Round Pick<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cubs’ Shota Imanaga Sends Message to Chicago Fans Amid Pending Return From Injury originally appeared on Athlon Sports.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,12937,24,4245,161,19,59,4,770],"class_list":{"0":"post-75293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","11":"tag-chicago-cubs","12":"tag-chicagocubs","13":"tag-cubs","14":"tag-major-league-baseball","15":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-shota-imanaga"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114617576689129740","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}