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MESA, Arizona – Wrigley Field is set to be the backdrop for Shota Imanaga’s first major league start.
Barring injuries in the final days before the regular season begins, the Chicago Cubs’ current rotation order has the Japanese left-hander scheduled to start his first home game on April 1 against the Colorado Rockies.
“I feel very honored to do that,” Imanaga said Sunday through interpreter Edwin Stanberry.
The Cubs will feature Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks and Jordan Wicks in their season-opening series against the Rangers in Texas with Imanaga and Javier Assad taking the mound during the team’s first homestand against Colorado. Imanaga hasn’t gotten any advice yet on pitching at Wrigley in April, but he heard it’s very cold and windy. The current forecast for the home opener projects a high of 47 degrees with a 53% chance of rain.
“Once I get to Chicago, I want to understand the environment and go from there,” Imanaga said.
Kyle Hendricks is happy to have Imanaga get the ball to start the Cubs’ home schedule.
“It’s going to be an amazing feeling,” Hendricks said Sunday after his final spring training start. “I know he will absorb it all, I’m sure, but he will be focused on the task. After it’s all over, sit down and talk about how great it was and how it went. But it will surely be a very, very special match.”
Nick Madrigal’s opening day status still uncertain
For the first time in almost three weeks, Nick Madrigal’s name appeared in the Cubs lineup. However, the lack of game action does not necessarily mean that he will begin the year on the disabled list due to the left hamstring injury from which he recovered.
Madrigal started at third base on Sunday against the Seattle Mariners, and went 0-for-3. Manager Craig Counsell said before the game that the decision involves Madrigal’s preparation due to his lack of reps due to the injury. Madrigal’s history with soft tissue injuries could also lead the Cubs to take a more cautious approach.
“Just preparation and having some routine for your spring training, that’s the thing,” Counsell said. “There is a health issue and we have to determine where we want to go with that, how aggressive we can be.”
Despite not playing in a Cactus League game since March 4, Madrigal had had at-bats in minor league backfields in addition to his 16 exhibition at-bats. Madrigal told the Tribune that he felt good after playing five innings against Seattle, but at the time he didn’t know if he would be part of the opening day roster.
“We’re still playing second by second,” Madrigal said. “Let’s talk. The main thing was to get one game under my belt and re-evaluate after that. I wish I had an answer, but I don’t even have one yet.
“I’m seeing the ball well and I’m ready to play. I think one or two more games I will be ready.”
Patrick Wisdom begins baseball activity
Although third baseman Patrick Wisdom will begin the season on the injured list, he is beginning to make progress in his rehab now that his back feels “really good.”
Wisdom played ball on Sunday as he begins his baseball activity. After suffering the injury 10 days ago, Counsell told Wisdom that the Cubs need him long-term, so there’s no rush to return, especially with that type of injury.
“Just hearing that from him gave me a lot of comfort in knowing, OK, let’s do this nice and slow and get back to where I can play the whole season,” Wisdom told the Tribune. “Everyday life is not limiting or painful, which is encouraging and will obviously help us progress in rehabilitation accordingly.”
Wisdom injured his back lifting a weight to begin his warm-up routine in the weight room. She’s hopeful that a mid-April return is realistic, but it will all depend on how his back feels and how many reps she can perform. Wisdom has been limited to just 16 at-bats between quadriceps tightness in late February that kept him out of games for more than a week and this back injury.
“From a personal standpoint, it’s upsetting because I did a lot in the offseason to feel good and I felt really good,” Wisdom said. “It’s just little things that take time, it wasn’t an easy solution. … Then I come back (after the quad problem) feeling good and on my day off I think, let’s get up and lift the wrong weight. Frustrating and annoying is how I see it.
“Baseball-wise, I felt really good about my swing, my timing and how I played, so it’s encouraging to be able to take a step back knowing I was in a good place.”
Cubs reportedly will open 2025 season in Japan
The Cubs will begin next season overseas.
They have been privately informed that their 2025 schedule begins against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Tokyo. according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The report says the Cubs will return to Arizona after the series and resume their regular-season schedule with a trip to the West Coast before returning to Chicago.
Those two teams make a lot of sense representing Major League Baseball in a series in Japan with their rosters each featuring a pair of Japanese stars in Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga of the Cubs, and Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers. Imanaga remembers watching the two-game Japan Opening Series in 2019 between the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners when Japanese left-hander Yusei Kikuchi started the series finale for his MLB debut, coinciding with Ichiro’s final game. Suzuki in the Major Leagues.
“That was really memorable,” Imanaga said via Stanberry. “For fans in Japan, who watch the games here, there are time zone differences, so it would be an honor to be able to play in front of them.
“I’m not thinking too much about it just because I want to focus on this season and get good results and then once the season is over I’m looking forward to that.”
The Cubs played in the inaugural MLB games in Japan when they faced the New York Mets at the Tokyo Dome to open the 2000 season, splitting the two games in front of a crowd of 55,000 fans. This would be another high-profile platform for the Cubs after previously playing in the Little League Classic (2019), the Field of Dreams Game (2022) and the London Series (2023).
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