Chicago Cubs starter Shota Imanaga may not have been as widely pursued as the other pitcher coming out of Japan this winter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but he still had options. A recent piece from The Athletic (Patrick Mooney, Sahadev Sharma and Ken Rosenthal contributed) on Imanaga suggests the southpaw drew substantial interest from seven teams, including the division rival Milwaukee Brewers. But Chicago, who had been scouting Imanaga since 2018, won out.
One reason why? A fortuitously located Japanese grocery store.
According to The Athletic, while Imanaga was staying in Schaumburg, Ill., this winter, he and his team grabbed ingredients from a Japanese grocer, Mitsuwa Marketplace, and cooked dinner in the hotel. It was one of the touchstones to make Imanaga feel at home.
