Two Chicago Cubs Pitchers Dominating Insane Stat This Season

Two Chicago Cubs starting pitchers are among the league's best in one insane statistical category.

May 29, 2024; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Shota Imanaga (18) pitches in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. / Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Coming into the 2024 MLB season, no one knew what to expect from the Chicago Cubs' starting pitchers. Justin Steele was considered an ace, but he got injured in the first game of the year and missed quite a bit of time.

After his injury, everyone panicked.

While the starting rotation has had its fair share of mishaps, they have been a quality group overall through this point of the season.

Something many fans didn't expect was that Steele would not be the ace of the rotation, and that it would actually be rookie Shota Imanaga, who was signed in free agency out of Japan this winter.

Imanaga has taken the baseball world by storm and looks poised to compete for both the NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young award if he keeps up the way he's been playing.

He has become an absolute star for the Cubs.

At this point in the season, there are two of Chicago's pitchers who are in the top three of one impressive statistical category.

According to Baseball Reference, both Imanaga and Javier Asaad are in the top three when it comes to WAR (Wins Above Replacement) for pitchers.

Imanaga comes in at No. 2 and Asaad comes in at No. 3 on the list.

2024 NL Pitching WAR Leaders

Ranger Suárez (2.7)
Shota Imanaga (2.4)
Javier Assad (2.3)
Hunter Greene (2.2)

All Leaders: https://t.co/zcQYcEsVRk pic.twitter.com/exX0MbfswT

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) June 4, 2024

Even though both they have been pitching well this season, the Cubs are in the middle of a slide.

They have lost eight out of their last 10 games and have shown no signs of stopping that trend. Hopefully, they can get back on track against the lowly Chicago White Sox.

Throughout the 2024 campaign thus far, Imanaga has gone 5-1 with a 1.86 ERA in 10 starts. He has a 5.9 K/BB ratio as well, which is impressive, to say the least.

As for Asaad, he holds a 4-1 record with a 2.27 ERA and a 2.3 K/BB ratio. Those numbers have come in 12 starts.

All of that being said, Chicago can only hope this team will come together and figure things out. The Cubs have proven that they have the talent to win at different times of the calendar, but consistency has been an issue.

Imanaga and Asaad will need to continue their impressive seasons if the team wants to get back on the right track.

To this point in the year, they have shown little signs of faltering and seem to be on track to keep producing the same results that have yielded these impressive numbers.