It was another disappointing weekend series for the Chicago Cubs, who lost two out of three games to the St. Louis Cardinals.

With another series loss, the Cubs are going in the wrong direction, and it is fair to be concerned about the outlook of the team. The once daunted offense has been in quite the funk of late, and this is a team that now is increasingly looking like a National League Wild Card contender at best.

At the trade deadline, Chicago didn’t make any major splashes, and that might come back to haunt them. This was a team that figured to need a front-end caliber starter, but instead traded for Michael Soroka, who is now injured.

Due to the lack of action at the deadline, this is going to put a lot of pressure on the top of the rotation for the Cubs to perform. Fortunately, despite the unit having some struggles overall, they do have two good southpaws on the roster.

However, the franchise has a looming decision to make on one of their contracts, making this an important stretch for him.

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Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the pressure being on for the Cubs starter Shota Imanaga for the rest of the season.

“Not only is Imanaga on the short list of Cubs pitchers worth trusting as they battle for the division lead, but Chicago needs to decide this offseason whether it wants to lock Imanaga in through 2028 on a three-year, $57M deal.”

It was an unbelievable rookie campaign for the left-hander in 2024. Imanaga was able to make the NL All-Star team as a rookie, totaling a 15-3 record and 2.91 ERA in 29 starts.

The southpaw looked like he was going to be on the track to stardom in the NL, but he has taken a little bit of a step back in his sophomore season. So far in 2025, he has totaled an 8-5 record and 3.19 ERA in 17 starts.

While those numbers are very strong still, the FIP is sitting at 4.33 this year, which could be an indication of some regression coming. Also, his strikeout per nine innings rate is down significantly from 9.0 in 2024 to 7.4 this season.

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For nearly two years now, Imanaga has been an important part of the rotation for Chicago. With their decision looming after the campaign about what to do with his contract, the pressure will be on him to perform with the lights potentially being bright in October.

If he can continue to pitch the way he has, it would be somewhat shocking not to see the Cubs pick up their option.

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