Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas was seen letting the umpiring crew have a piece of his mind when Sunday’s rubber match between the Cubs and Dodgers entered what would turn out to be a nearly three-hour rain delay.

Rojas had made an error before the delay and slipped out of the batter’s box the inning prior. He said after the game that he and the Dodgers were “playing in a puddle of water.”

Should the delay have been reached earlier? Perhaps. But this isn’t Los Angeles we’re talking about. It’s Chicago, where April afternoons look more like Sunday than anything else. You play through a little rain and mix in a heaping serving of Quick Dry to keep the game on the same calendar date.

By the time Rojas got his wish on Sunday, the Cubs were ahead of the Dodgers 6-0 and on their way to a series victory over the offseason champions. Here are my observations from Sunday and the rest of the weekend series that helped the Cubs cap off a 5-1 home stand at Wrigley Field last week.

Shōta Imanaga was very good in his rain-shortened start against one of the better lineups in baseball on Sunday.

How’s that for an encore performance? After stymying the Colorado Rockies offense last Monday, Shōta Imanaga brought his A-game against one of the better lineups in baseball on Sunday at Wrigley Field.

Imanaga got Mookie Betts to fly out to open the first frame and then struck out fellow Japan native Shohei Ohtani, getting the best hitter in baseball on a 94-mph fastball up and in.

After a Freddie Freeman single, Imanaga got Will Smith to fly out to end the frame. He would surrender on more base hit—to Teoscar Hernandez in the second—on the afternoon en route to four shutout innings before Mother Nature ended his day after just 43 pitches (32 of which were strikes).

The same four-seamer that retired Ohtani on strikes in the first inning generated seven whiffs on the afternoon. He only had the chance to throw his splitter seven times and picked up one whiff on the pitch that he crippled the Rockies lineup with a week ago, and he threw two sweepers, which were non-factors.

The only thing the rain deprived us of on Sunday was the opportunity for Imanaga to face the Dodgers lineup a third time. If he had been able to replicate his success the first two times through the order, this would have been a start that would have started some of those crazy early-season award conversations.

Still, even without that opportunity, Imanaga gave the Cubs a chance to win on Sunday. He’s been lights out in two starts this season, striking out 12, walking none, allowing four base hits, and allowing no runs in 10 innings of work.

“I thought Shota was great,” manager Craig Counsell said after the game. “I thought it was more of what we saw on Opening Day: doing what he’s good at and then filling up the strike zone, most importantly.”

The Cubs offense has been doing damage early, and that’s good news for a pitching staff facing early injury troubles.

With Jameson Taillon sidelined with a back issue and ace Justin Steele expected to miss at least April, the Cubs needed their offense to shoulder the load while the rotation dealt with some early-season depth concerns. They’ve done just that.

Entering Sunday’s rubber match against the Dodgers, the Cubs offense was tied for fifth in baseball with a .270 team batting average. Only the Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Rangers, and Braves had been better in that department. Chicago added seven more hits on Sunday against the Dodgers.

Their 6.25 runs per contest ranked fourth in baseball entering Sunday’s contest, and they added eight more runs to that total against the Dodgers, moving to 6-3 on the season.

Here’s a look at some other offensive rankings entering play on Sunday for the Cubs:

• Run Differential: +9.0 (10th)

• Walks/Game: 5.25 (2nd)

• Walk %: 13.3 (1st)

• OBP: .370 (3rd)

• OPS: .805 (5th)

• Strikeout %: 18.4 (5th)

• ABs/Home Run: 29.67 (10th)

• Extra Base Hit %: 7.3 (13th)

The Cubs offense is getting on base as well as anyone in baseball to start the season and they’re doing it in various ways, including walks. Their 13.3 percent walk rate is the best in baseball, and they have entered Sunday with the third-fewest strikeouts in the league as a collective.

They’ve also added plenty of pop to the equation, with a team OPS north of .800 that ranked fifth-best entering Sunday.

Dansby Swanson, Seiya Suzuki, Christopher Morel, and Cody Bellinger have two home runs in the team’s first nine games of the season, and that foursome has a combined 29 runs driven in.

WATCH: CODY BELLINGER ANSWERS THE CODY CHANTS AT WRIGLEY FIELD WITH A HOME RUN AGAIN!

Let’s talk a little more about Seiya Suzuki for a moment.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I said that Cactus League hitting lines don’t matter until they matter? With Seiya Suzuki’s spring batting line, there was evidence to support the idea that he wasn’t having a flukey spring but rather picking up where he left off last season when he .356 over his final 47 games, slugging 11 home runs, 15 doubles, and four triples.

Suzuki got the message last August when the Cubs benched him following a stretch between June 2 and August 7, during which he posted a wRC+ of 61. He made the physical adjustments (which I talked about recently), but he’s also made the mental adjustment, which Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly pointed out this weekend.

“A lot of it had to do with Seiya really starting to own who he is as a hitter,” Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly said during Suzuki’s strong finish last season. “It did take a little time for him to realize, ‘Who am I in the game? And who am I in this lineup?’

“There wasn’t a mechanical swing adjustment. There weren’t a lot of things that we talked about outside of being aggressive and getting your pitch to hit. It doesn’t matter what the count is or what the situation is. If it’s a pitch that you think you can drive in the middle of the field, you’re going to go ahead and take your ‘A’ swing. That freed him up a little bit. And obviously, success breeds confidence.”

Suzuki has a .871 OPS in nine games this season and has two home runs, two doubles, and 12 RBI in 35 at-bats. Suzuki's numbers will continue to swell when the weather warms up, and balls are more likely to leave the ballpark.

This weekend was the Michael Busch “revenge series” against the Dodgers.

In the Cubs’ 9-7 victory over the Dodgers on Friday, Busch hit his first home run in a Cubs uniform and made some nice defensive plays at first base. On Sunday, Busch drilled a three-run double in the first inning to get the Cubs to an early lead against his former team at Wrigley Field.

Busch—who drove in four runs and picked up a home run and a pair of doubles this weekend—said that he had this series circled on the calendar after he was traded to the Cubs by the Dodgers in January.

“Being able to play against former teammates, it’s definitely one that was circled. But at the same time, it's another series. It's another chance for us to get a win.”

The Cubs’ defense looked much better this weekend.

I mentioned that Michael Busch had some slick glove work on Friday in the Dodgers' series opener. Still, I can’t forget his infield mates Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner, who had impressive weekends with the leather against Los Angeles.

More Chicago Cubs from Bleacher Nation

• Brett has the wrap on Sunday’s victory over the Dodgers in his Enhanced Box Score:

More Chicago Sports from Bleacher Nation

Chicago Bears

• Two of the best wide receivers in the 2024 NFL Draft class—Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers—will visit the Chicago Bears this week as the draft draws closer.

Chicago Blackhawks

• It was a mixed bag for the Blackhawks this weekend as they split a pair of games with the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild.

Chicago Bulls

• The Bulls fell to the Magic on Sunday afternoon. Eli has the details in his Enhanced Box Score:

What’s on deck?

• Cubs @ Padres | 8:40 PM CT | Marquee