Chicago Cubs’ Shota Imanaga on 2025 struggles: 'I felt ashamed I let the fans down'

But the end of 2025 wasn’t the only roller coaster for Imanaga. Actually, all of last season was an up and down challenge.

Although his overall numbers were respectable (9-8, 3.73 ERA over 25 starts and 144.2 innings), the sophomore MLB pitcher was never quite himself after an early-May hamstring injury, the first lower-body injury of his career. By late-season, he was getting hit hard, giving up 20 of his 31 home runs allowed in his final 12 starts and posting a 6.51 ERA in the month of September.

Imanaga’s playoff run was especially disappointing, as he posed an 8.10 ERA in two abbreviated outings versus the Padres and Brewers. By the end of the NLDS against Milwaukee, manager Craig Counsell had clearly lost faith in the southpaw and opted to not employ him in his scheduled start.

Imanaga opens up about his 2025 struggles

Imanaga has been very open about his struggle of a season last year and the injury that hampered him throughout.

“I was nervous and put pressure on myself,” he said on his Monday podcast, as translated by Cubby Mike on Twitter/X. “I worried about my body not moving well. Even my rehab pitching didn’t go as I wanted, so I wondered if I was ready for the MLB…My first pitch after the injury was a grounder to first base, the same as when I got hurt. The coaches in the dugout said they were very nervous. Something everyone hoped wouldn’t happen, happened on the first pitch, Running to first base, I felt every part of my foot and ran carefully.

…Memories of my injury came back. I told myself I didn’t have to run at full strength to get the out. After that, I felt relieved. I had overcome my challenge…”

The former Yokohama DeNA BayStars standout also talked about the stress and strain of a postseason where, going in, he didn’t feel quite up to par.

“Against the Padres, anxiety took over,” Imanaga reflected. “I gave up a home run, and I regretted repeating the same mistake. It was my first postseason, and the atmosphere at my home field pushed me a lot…From the first inning to the ninth, when the closer pitches, fans give a standing ovation around two strikes. It happens from the very first inning. I had heard that the postseason atmosphere is different and seen it on TV, but I understood it fully there.”

He also broke down his ultimately disastrous showing against the Brewers.

“In the first inning, the Cubs scored a 3-run homer by Seiya Suzuki,” he noted. “I should have focused on pitching my game, but I felt I had to protect the three runs at all costs, so I went into defense mode from the start. I should have focused more on building the game.”

“I felt ashamed”

Known for his cerebral and philosophical approach to pitching, Imanaga also lamented his inability to execute and the shame it brought him in the face of the Cubs’ fans loyal support.

“After we lost, I went to the locker room to clean up. I thought fans might be harsh because I didn’t perform well in the postseason, but some said ‘Thank you for letting us enjoy this season.’ I felt ashamed I let them down and wished I could have shared the joy of winning with them.”

The plan for this year, though, is to stay healthy and fix some of the mechanical and mental errors brought on by pitching hurt.

“He knew his stuff wasn’t quite where he wanted,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told MLB.com. “And one big thing for us, too, was we saw some underlying things in play there that we were trying to get ahead of – biometrically and from just underlying numbers…We wanted to continue to work on getting his velo and stuff back. And that probably cost him some execution, but we were chasing the right things.”

For what it’s worth, Imanaga is absolutely gung ho about tackling– and overcoming– the challenges ahead of him.

“He’s already been texting us [with ideas],” Hottovy said, back in November, just days after the pitcher accepted the Cubs’ qualifying offer.