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The 33-year-old left-hander had another terrific season for the Cubs in 2026, going 11-10 with a 3.77 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and a 174/37 K/BB ratio over 174 1/3 innings in his 32 starts. He also served up a career-high 35 home runs, an issue that could be minimized by moving from Wrigley Field to the spacious confines of Fifth Third Park in Detroit.

Imanaga surrendered a solo homer to Adley Rutschman while striking out the side during an abbreviated 12-pitch outing at Tropicana Field to close out the regular season. The 33-year-old southpaw wraps up a strong bounce-back campaign with a 3.77 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 174/37 K/BB ratio across 174 1/3 innings to finish as a borderline top-30 fantasy starter. He’s established himself as a reliable high-volume fantasy contributor in an era where few starters are consistently eclipsing 170 innings. He figures to be available in relief during Chicago’s upcoming NL Wild Card Series matchup against the Padres.

Imanaga gave up four hits, walked none and struck out seven. Having likely made his last start of the season, Imanaga will finish with a 3.74 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 171 strikeouts and 11 wins. Imanaga won 15 games with a 2.91 ERA in rookie 2024 campaign, but hasn’t been able to repeat those numbers over the last two seasons.

Imanaga had a special feel for his splitter in this one. He was commanding it very well in the early innings, so he continued to push its usage up as the game wore on. On the season, he’s thrown it 34% of the time. In this game, it was at a nearly 50% usage rate and forced an eye-popping 14 swings-and-misses. That’s tied for the third-most whiffs from that pitch in a single outing this season and each of the top three marks have come in the last month. He’s incredibly difficult to hit when that pitch is toppling over like it has been lately and he’s scheduled to face the Marlins next week in his regular season finale.

Imanaga is back to even at 10-10 after allowing five hits, walking two and striking out four today. Bryan Reynolds homered off him in the sixth. Imanaga’s one start next week will come at home against the Braves, making him a middling play in mixed leagues.

He allowed just three hits and didn’t walk anybody, the Cubs pulled him after a leadoff single in the seventh. The splitter was working for him tonight, as he got a career-high 17 whiffs with it. It’s largely just a game of if Imanaga’s stuff will get hit over the fence, and the Marlins didn’t manage to do so. Over his five August starts, Imanaga allowed 10 homers and had a 5.96 ERA. This is more like it. Too bad he can’t pitch in cavernous loanDepot park every day. Instead, he’ll pitch against the Brewers next week in a dicey matchup.

Imanaga followed up three scoreless innings by giving up a three-run homer to Héctor Rodríguez in the fourth. He then allowed two more homers with his velocity having diminished in the fifth. Imanaga, now 8-10 with a 4.01 ERA on the season, just isn’t at his best right now, and the Cubs could give him some extra rest with rosters expanding. As is, he’s due to face the Marlins on Saturday.

Imanaga labored over his two innings, needing a whopping 72 pitches to get his six outs. The southpaw gave up a leadoff homer to Randy Arozarena, and then an error by Carson Kelly in the second allowed the second run to cross. It’s the second time in three starts that Imanaga has scuffled, with a 10-strikeout effort against the White Sox sandwiched between. Imanaga will get the chance to rebound against the Reds on Saturday.

Imanaga allowed just two hits, but the second was a three-run homer from Randal Grichuk that followed a walk and Miguel Vargas’s single in the fourth. He did go on to reach double figures in strikeouts for the third time this season. He ranks 20th in the majors with his 140 strikeouts, and he’s 15th among ERA qualifiers with a 1.09 WHIP.

Imanaga couldn’t keep the ball in the park, as he allowed three homers before being pulled with two outs in the fifth inning. The 32-year-old has been dominant since the start of July, and this was his first outing where he allowed more than three runs since June 24. These things happen, and Imanaga is a good bounceback candidate for Sunday’s scheduled start against the Cardinals.

The run came on Shohei Ohtani’s homer to lead off the first. Imanaga allowed seven more hits afterwards, but they were all singles, and he didn’t walk anyone. He has a 1.21 ERA in his last five starts, though two of those produced losses anyway. He’ll face the Nationals next week.

Imananga allowed just two other hits besides the dingers and walked none. He’s managed a 2.41 ERA in 41 innings over his last seven starts after a brief swoon in late May and early June. He allowed only four hard-hit balls, but when two of them go over the fence and your team gives you zero runs of support, it’s unideal. Imananga will draw the Dodgers next week in a start that feels a little scary.

Imanaga gave up four hits, walked one and struck out four. He improved to 7-8 with the win. Imanaga has a scoreless streak of 13 innings over his last two starts. The 32-year-old left-hander has lowered his ERA to 3.72 in the process. Imanaga is lined up to face the Cardinals on the road next week.

Imanaga didn’t have to be at his best with Zebby Matthews giving up a couple handfuls of runs, but he certainly was close to it. The southpaw scattered six hits and a walk, and he was able to strike out four. He generated nine swings-and-misses, and just seven balls hit off Imanaga registered as hard contact. Imanaga will take a 3.91 ERA into a scheduled start Saturday against the Pirates.

Imanaga was locked in a pitcher’s duel with Hunter Greene, as both pitchers tossed four scoreless innings to begin the game. Imanaga was the first to fold on the night when he allowed a solo homer to Elly De La Cruz in the fifth inning to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. It would be the only run Imanaga would allow on the night, as the righty did his part to hold the Reds in check but received no run support from his offense. Imanaga enters the All-Star Break with a 5-8 record and a 4.17 ERA.

Imanaga surrendered a leadoff homer to JJ Wetherholt in the first inning. Two walks and a hit brought a second run home to score in the third. Imanaga would pitch into the fifth, leaving with two outs and a runner on at 86 pitches. He walked three and collected eight strikeouts. The 32-year-old left-hander will take a 4.28 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and a 100/26 K/BB ratio across 103 innings into a start against the Orioles in Baltimore on Thursday.

Imanaga gave up nine hits, walked none and struck out four. The 32-year-old left-hander was pulled after getting the first out of the seventh inning and throwing 97 pitches. He’s earned the win in just one of his last nine starts. Imanaga’s ERA is 4.30. He’s lined up to face the Cardinals at home this weekend.

After being pushed back two days due to rainouts, Imanaga did not have his best stuff here. Luckily, the three home runs he gave up didn’t come back to bite him. That’s mostly because the Mets managed to make six errors in this game, but I digress. None of those three homers were cheapies and all of them came against Imanaga’s fastball. His velocity was down just a smidge here too, which is something to watch rather than an immediate cause for concern. All in all, this was a poor result after it’d felt like he was righting the ship and Imanaga now has an ugly 4.40 ERA on the season. He’s scheduled for a two-start week coming up against the Padres and Cardinals with both games at home.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters Edward Cabrera will get the ball for his regularly scheduled start on Tuesday with Imanaga being pushed back to Wednesday’s twin bill instead. It’ll be Javier Assad drawing the starting assignment for the other doubleheader contest at Citi Field.

It’ll be made up on August 6. There’s actually a ton to unpack here from a fantasy fallout standpoint. Toronto’s scheduled starter, Dylan Cease, will presumably take the ball for Monday’s series opener against the Astros. That would delay Shane Bieber’s return from the injured list for his season debut until Tuesday’s showdown in the Rogers Centre. Cease would close out a two-start week with a showdown against the Rangers at home. Meanwhile, Shota Imanaga gets the ball on Monday against the free-falling Mets as a part of a two-start week that wraps up with a road tilt against the Brewers.