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Shota Imanaga shares his unique perspective on Cubs Opening Day start in Japan

3 months agoAndy Martinez

MESA, Ariz. — When Shota Imanaga found out on that he and his countrymen Yoshinobu Yamamoto are set to make history next month, he took a moment to reflect.

The duo will face off in the first matchup between Japanese-born starting pitchers in an Opening Day game. Imanaga was named the Cubs Opening Day starter yesterday and Yamamoto was announced as the starter for the Dodgers earlier this month.

Imanaga didn’t look back on his career or his incredible rookie campaign that set the charge for this achievement. No, he thought of the path that those before him paved for Japanese pitchers in the U.S.

“I’m very honored,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry on Wednesday morning. “I have to say, though, that the reason that the Japanese players are getting a lot of attention is because of all the players in the past that came before us who created this path for all the Japanese players, and we’re walking on their history.

“So, I want to say thank you to all of them, and I’m very excited.”

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It was a trail initially opened by Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese-born player in MLB in 1964-65 and continued by the likes of Hideo Nomo in the 1990s and 2000s. For Imanaga, players like Ichiro Suzuki and Yu Darvish allowed him and this group of Japanese players to dream of a career in the United States.

“They obviously had great success here,” Imanaga said. “Whether that be from talking to media or whatever they post on social media, I feel like I can just see what they were doing, how they got better and I think how they’re living their life here in the US with MLB.”

This series, though, feels different than other international series.

“The fan interest worldwide is gonna be off the charts,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said on Tuesday. “I think it’s an awesome thing just for the game of baseball. [Dodgers manager] Dave Roberts and I were talking about that the other night, just, ‘This is great for the game.’

“It’s awesome, and I think baseball is going to benefit from this.”

[READ: Seiya Suzuki explains his motivation heading into Cubs 2025 season]

A wave of Japanese-born players has come to MLB and thrived — headlined by four players who will take part in the series: Imanaga, Yamamoto, Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki and, of course, the game’s biggest star, Shohei Ohtani. Rookie Roki Sasaki — who signed with the Dodgers this winter and will start Game 2 in Tokyo — is looking to join the quartet as a star in the U.S.

“I think with all the international tournaments going on, I think there’s more attention to baseball,” Imanaga said. “I think as well as other players posting on media, whether that be social media, about how to make improvements, how to make adjustments. I think being able to see that, having access to that, I think there is part where you want to improve as a player.

“And I think because of that, the distance from Japan to watching MLB baseball, or just MLB in general, is a lot closer because of media.”

And fans in Japan will have the opportunity to witness that firsthand.

“When I was playing in Japan, I was told that the population of baseball players in Japan was getting fewer and fewer,” Imanaga said. “I think, whatever the result is, I think it’s just a good opportunity for kids and everyone to see baseball up close, MLB baseball up close. And hopefully, that can be a motivation for them to keep on playing.”

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