'He's a fierce competitor': Craig Counsel explains why Cubs' Shots Imanaga will start vs. Brewers in Game 2 of NLDS
The Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs will play Game 2 of the NLDS on Monday night at American Family Fields, as the Cubs will look to even the series, and the Brewers will look to take a commanding 2-0 lead heading back to Chicago.
The Brewers jumped all over Cubs' starter Matthew Boyd in Game 1, putting up nine runs in the first two innings of the game.
Now, the Cubs will send Shota Imanaga to the mound for Game 2, as the Brewers will start Aaron Ashby, who pitched 1.1 innings in relief in Game 1.
Craig Counsel Explains Imanaga Decision
Cubs' manager Craig Counsel spoke with the media on Sunday, and explained why Imanaga will get the start on Monday.
The Cubs' starter has been one of their top guys all year long, especially with all the other pitching injuries Chicago has dealt with, but recently, Imanaga has struggled.
"The thing that I love most about Shota is that he is a competitor. I think he's like a thinking man's competitor, and he also pitches with a lot of joy on the mound, while competing at a really high level," Counsel said. "He doesn't sometimes come across as this like fierce competitor, because he's really joyful on the mound, so that doesn't come across as fierce necessarily. But, I think he's a fierce competitor."
Anyone who's seen Imanaga's postgame celebrations with the team will agree that he finds joy in pitching, and can be very entertaining.
However, the Cubs' need Imanaga to find his groove again on the mound. In his last three starts, Imanaga has given up 13 earned runs in 14.2 innings pitched.
It hasn't been the Imanaga the Cubs were used to for a large part of the regular season, and if Chicago wants to even the series on Monday, it needs a strong outing from Imanaga.
"He's trying to figure out a way to get you out. He's trying to figure out a way to be better," Counsel said. "That's going on pitch to pitch, that's going on between starts, and he's really good at that part of it.
"We've seen him pitch for two years, and we've seen him succeed for two years, and that's how he does it to me. He's a fun player to watch compete. There's no question about it."
This is Imanaga's second year in the MLB and his rookie year was phenomenal. The Cubs' starter put together a 2.91 ERA across 173.1 innings and made the All-Star game.
He's taken a step back in 2025, and has dealt with some injuries, but still has a 3.73 ERA and 0.988 WHIP, which is actually better than last year's.
The achilles heel for Imanaga this year has been the home run ball, which is why the WHIP is lower this year despite the higher ERA. If Imanaga can keep the ball inside the park on Monday, it should mean good news for the Cubs.
Seahawks' terrible Week 5 defense allows Baker Mayfield to have an NFL first
Many NFL fans will wake up this morning and look at what Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense did to the Seattle Seahawks defense in Week 5 and lose respect for Seattle. The story is quite different.
And that is not meant in any way to take away from what Mayfield accomplished at Lumen Field. He was terrific, just as he has been mostly good since he joined the Bucs in 2023. But he also did something no quarterback in NFL history had done in Week 5.
The quarterback completed 29 of his 33 passes for 379 yards and two touchdowns. He was the first QB to ever throw for 375-plus yards and have fewer than five incompletions. While Seattle's defense should be embarrassed by that fact, Mayfield was great nonetheless.
Baker Mayfield was magnificent against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 5
Still, the hope is that the Seahawks defense will revert to its high-quality performances beginning as soon as Week 6. The players Mayfield was facing in Week 5 were a ghost of what Seattle's defense actually looks like.
Safety Julian Love missed the game with a hamstring injury, and so did cornerback Devon Witherspoon with a knee injury. Those two absences alone would have affected what Seattle can do. But during the game, things got much worse. Veteran edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence was also out.
Edge rusher Derick Hall, who is having a very good season, hurt an oblique muscle and had to be taken out of the game. The same happened to cornerback Riq Woolen, who suffered a concussion. While Woolen has been bad this year, he's still better than his replacement, Nehemiah Pritchett.
Baker Mayfield is the first QB ever to have 375+ Pass Yards and fewer than 5 incompletions in a regular season game pic.twitter.com/tLwhLuVJQz
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) October 5, 2025
In other words, by early in the second half, the Seattle Seahawks were missing three starters in their secondary and two of their top four edge rushers. Baker Mayfield took advantage of the opportunity presented to him, but he was far from facing Seattle's best.
The question in the next couple of games is how healthy Seattle will be. Woolen missing Week 6 might be a safe assumption, as concussions are no joke and players need time to recover. Love, Witherspoon, and Lawrence are not guaranteed to return. Neither is Hall.
The Seattle Seahawks have a bye week in Week 8, but the 3-2 next faces an improved Jacksonville Jaguars team and then a Houston Texans squad that appears to have found its footing after a rough start to the season. If key defensive players don't return soon, Seattle could find itself 3-4.
