Chicago Cubs Ace Honored to Be Named Starter in Tokyo Series Opener

The Chicago Cubs will play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Tokyo Dome next month and this pitcher is exited to be part of the game.

Feb 10, 2025; Mesa, AZ, USA; Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga (18) runs through drills during spring training camp. | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

The Chicago Cubs made it official earlier this week when it announced that second-year left-hander Shota Imanaga would start against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the Tokyo Series opener on March 18.

Earlier this month Dodgers manager Dave Roberts that Imanaga's countryman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, would start against the Cubs during the series, a matchup that will lead to a couple of MLB firsts.

Per MLB.com, it will be the first MLB regular-season game in the Toyko Dome that will feature starting pitchers of Japanese descent. It will also be the first time that two Japanese pitchers faced each other on opening day.

Understandably, Imanaga was ecstatic to learn that he will start in the opener.

“I was certainly thinking about the possibility, so I am really honored by the choice,” Imanaga said through his interpreter during an interview with Chicago-based media in Mesa, Ariz. “I heard this will be the first time two Japanese MLB pitchers faced off in a series in Japan. I have to say that the reason we as modern Japanese players in MLB are getting all this attention is what the Japanese players did in the past to make the transition easier. They created this path, so we follow through the history they created. I want to say thank you to all of them.”

Imanaga is about to start his second MLB season. He went 15-3 last season with a 2.91 ERA in 29 starts, with 174 strikeouts and 28 walks in 173.1 innings.

In doing so, he was an All-Star, finished fourth in NL rookie of the year voting and fifth in NL Cy Young voting. He also threw a no-hitter, which came after he received advance from the eventual NL rookie of the year winner, Paul Skenes.

Yamamoto was also a rookie last season after signing a 12-year, $325 million deal. He missed two months of the season with triceps tightness and went 7-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 18 starts, as he struck out 105 and walked 22 in 90 innings. He returned in time to help the Dodgers win the World Series.

Another Japanese star, three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani, is expected to play in the series, but he is not expected to pitch. He is expected to return to the mound in May.