Big in Japan: Cubs make history with Shota Imanaga, Seiya Suzuki starpower

When it comes to baseball in Chicago, there isn't a lot to cheer about right now. As a .500 team, you tend to look for any positive news surrounding your organization. In Saturday night's game against the Miami Marlins, the Chicago Cubs not only put a 14-2 beating on the Marlins but also made some MLB history while doing so.

In the win against the Marlins, the Cubs made history thanks to Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga. The pair of stars became the first Japanese teammates to combine for three-plus extra-base hits while recording the win as a pitcher.

Suzuki recorded three hits, two of them home runs, and Imanaga threw seven innings, giving up only four hits and recording three strikeouts.

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Shota Imanaga, Seiya Suzuki's starpower lures them into the history books.

Obviously, Imanaga has been phenomenal in his rookie season in Chicago. The 30-year-old left-hander is 10–3 with a 3.08 ERA to go along with 140 strikeouts. In a normal year, Imanaga would be the NL Rookie of the Year frontrunner. Unfortunately for him, this isn't a normal year with Paul Skenes and Jackson Merrill putting together two of the best rookie seasons we've seen in quite some time.

During his three seasons thus far in Chicago, Suzuki has been serviceable and reliable. He's currently hitting .268, with 18 home runs and 108 total hits on the year. His numbers have slightly dipped from his 2023 season but Suzuki has still proven to be a reliable outfielder with the Cubs.

We will continue to see more Japanese-born players coming over to the United States to pursue a career in MLB, so it is unclear how long the Cubs will be the sole owners of this historic feat but their two Japanese stars have put their stamp in the history books. We also can't rule out the possibility of Shohei Ohtani completing this by himself one day either.

Nonetheless, Saturday was a historic night for the MLB, the Cubs, Imanaga and Suzuki, and for Japanese baseball.