The Moment Shota Imanaga Knew He Wanted to Join Cubs Has CFB Fans Confused

Tom Dierberger | May 25, 2024

Cubs starting pitcher Shota Imanaga bumps fists with teammates in the dugout following an outing in April. / Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Shota Imanaga and the Chicago Cubs have been a match made in baseball heaven.

Imanaga, signed to a four-year contract out of Japan this offseason, leads all MLB pitchers with a 0.84 ERA in nine starts (53 2/3 innings). He's the new ace of the staff trying to compete for an NL Central title. Cubs fans love him. And Imanaga loves Chicago.

Imanaga told ESPN's Jesse Rogers that he developed a relationship with the Cubs' front office early in free agency. Imanaga moved from Japan to Chicago last October in order to live near his agents. He explored the city for a few months and even caught a college football game between Iowa and Northwestern at Wrigley Field in November.

"I came here and they were playing football," he told ESPN. "I saw that home plate was covered. And they said the scoreboard was really old. I liked it."

The game Imanaga watched was an absolute clunker. The Hawkeyes beat the Wildcats 10–7 in a game that didn't have any first-half scoring and featured 339 yards of total offense and 538 yards of punting. All hail the Big Ten West.

College football fans saw that excerpt of the story and had plenty of jokes that the Iowa-Northwestern game is what sold him on the Cubs:

Imanaga comes away from the game thinking that a forward pass is virtually impossible to complete, the punter is the most important player on the team, and every football game stops for 10 minutes so the groundskeepers can fruitlessly stomp dirt clods into sinkholes

— BYCTOM (@BYCTOM) May 24, 2024

Is Shota Imanaga part of the @SickosCommittee?

— Jack JSP (@brownsbosoxfan) May 24, 2024

"Punting is winning" - Shota Imanaga

— Phelan O (@Pwneill) May 24, 2024

No wonder he pitches so well, he really doesn't know that offense can be a thing.

— Matt (@HanselFranzel) May 24, 2024

Imanaga is set to make his 10th career start next week against the division rival Milwaukee Brewers.

He'll get another two chances to watch Northwestern at Wrigley Field next season when the Wildcats host Ohio State on Nov. 16 and Illinois on Nov. 30.